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Public school students in Western Australian will be able to get their vaccinations on campus from Term 4 in a new measure to get as many COVID-19 jabs into arms as possible.
Students will still need to get permission from their parents to get a vaccination just like other similar programs run in the public system.
Children aged 12 and above are already eligible to get the Pfizer vaccine in WA but the state’s Education and Training Minister Sue Ellery said new the measures would help the roll-out.
School students will be able to be vaccinated for COVID-19 at schools. Credit:Martin Hunter
The government will make it easier for teachers and 16 and 17-year-old students to get their jabs from next week with dedicated timeslots for school children to walk-in to community centres without booking, starting with public clinics in Joondalup and Claremont.
Further clinics will open at Midland, Kwinana, and in the Perth city centre from October 4.
Regional clinics will also have similar time slots available for the same teacher and older student cohorts starting with Kalgoorlie, Esperance, Coolgardie, Kambalda, Leonora, Norseman, Bunbury, Derby, Kununurra, Carnarvon, and Geraldton.
Ms Ellery said the eventual roll-out within schools would cover everyone from ages 12 and above including staff.
“You don’t want to have COVID for Christmas, we want to get this vaccination out in the community in all eligible people before we have any crossing of our borders of COVID in our community”
“We will begin that in our residential boarding colleges, agricultural boarding colleges, education support schools … and selected secondary schools and we will add to these throughout Term 4,” she said.
“Our announcement today adds to the existing arrangements which will continue to be available for all eligible West Australians, that is booked appointments at the community vaccination centres or their GPs.”
Older students are being prioritised to avoid any impact on their exams if COVID-19 there was an outbreak in WA.
WA Vaccine Commander Chris Dawson said there were more than 100 locations around the state where vaccination clinics were running and there were plenty of bookings available.
“In fact we have 50,000 appointments available in our state run clinics over the next six weeks,” he said.
“We’re strongly encouraging people to book and make your appointment for a vaccination.
“You don’t want to have COVID for Christmas, we want to get this vaccination out in the community in all eligible people before we have any crossing of our borders of COVID in our community.”
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