Melbourne Town Hall has been turned into a vaccination hub to help protect some of the city's most vulnerable residents.
Melbourne city council has teamed up with Cohealth to establish the Melbourne Town Hall Vaccination centre, which will prioritise vaccinations for Melburnians sleeping rough, with English literacy limitations, who are refugees, or who are international students. Cohealth chief executive, Nicole Bartholomeusz, said: "People experiencing homelessness and other vulnerabilities are at higher risk of exposure to COVID, and yet face greater barriers to accessing the vaccine."
The centre will initially be able to vaccinate 200 people per day, which will hopefully be scaled up to 600 people per day as vaccine supply increases.
The centre opened on Wednesday, September 1, with Melbourne lord mayor, Sally Capp, saying: "We know that getting more jabs in arms is the only way for us to protect the most vulnerable, and stay open." While the centre is currently focusing on vaccinating vulnerable groups, it is expected to be opened to more Melburnians in the future.
Melbourne Town Hall is the latest well known Melbourne building to be temporarily repurposed for vaccination, following the establishment of state vaccination hubs at the Royal Exhibition Building and Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.