NSW Government to establish COVID-19 ‘mass vaccination hub’ in Homebush

The NSW government has announced it will establish a “mass vaccination hub” in Homebush, in Sydney’s inner west, which it says will handle half of the entire state’s COVID-19 jabs.

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Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the facility at Homebush would be open within the next few months and was designed to support the Commonwealth, which is responsible for most of Australia’s vaccine rollout.

Under Australia’s current immunisation blueprint, NSW is tasked with administering about 300,000 jabs, with responsibility for vaccinating the rest of the state’s eight million citizens resting with the federal government.

The Premier said she hoped NSW Health would be able to deliver 60,000 jabs a week.

Half of those will be administered at the facility in Sydney Olympic Park and the other half spread across 100 sites around NSW.

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While the national vaccination rollout is behind schedule, Ms Berejiklian said the state was on track to reach the halfway point of its 300,000 vaccine target for October by the end of this week.

However, the NSW plan to accelerate its vaccination program was entirely contingent on the Morrison government being able to provide enough doses.

“Our ability to do 60,000 vaccinations a week depends on us getting the supply of the vaccine from the Commonwealth,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“At the end of the day, the Commonwealth is responsible for getting the vaccine to the states.

“What we’re saying to the Commonwealth is once you get those doses available to us, we’re ready to administer them in a safe way.”

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said he had been given “no indication at this point” that the federal government won’t be able to provide enough doses to warrant a “mass vaccination hub”.

“We’re working on the basis that they will have the vaccine available and we have to be ready for that eventuality,” he said. 

“Of course, there is no question that it’s been publicly acknowledged that the federal government set certain targets which have not been achieved and that’s not casting blame anywhere it is just a reality.”

Mr Hazzard said the lease for the mass hub will be signed in “the very near future”.

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The announcement came a week after state and territory governments were at loggerheads with the federal government over its inability to meet its four million jab target by April.

Federal agricultural minister David Littleproud publicly declared that the states had done “bugger all” to administer the doses.

Mr Hazzard and his counterparts around the country hit back at federal government criticism, saying the Commonwealth failed to provide any certainty or transparency around supply chains.

Yesterday, 6,894 COVID-19 vaccines were administered by NSW Health bringing the total jabs given in the state to 134,323.

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