Once a beloved basketball arena, the decommissioned AIS Arena will begin its new life as a mass vaccination clinic from 10am today when the first of “hundreds of thousands” of jabs is administered on site.
In its 1980s heyday, Bruce’s AIS Arena, known colloquially as ‘The Palace’, would pack out with locals keen to get their basketball fix and cheer on the Canberra Canons. It got to relive some of its former glory when the UC Caps took out the 2019-20 WNBL title in front of a full house in March 2020, just before the pandemic was declared.
It has since sat empty after being permanently decommissioned by the AIS in June last year.
Now fully converted to handle up to 20,000 COVID-19 vaccinations a week once the supply is in order, vaccinations will start at the site today.
The site comes online as the ACT remains a nation leader in the COVID-19 vaccination rollout, with over a month’s wait for the next free Pfizer appointment.
By 2 September, some 214,661 vaccines had been administered across the ACT since the rollout began in February.
Almost seven in 10 (68 per cent) of Canberrans aged 16 up have had their first dose, with 44.5 per cent of eligible ACT residents now fully vaccinated.
The ACT achieved an Australian-first vaccination milestone yesterday with local residents aged 75-79 years becoming the first cohort in Australia to reach 80 per cent fully vaccinated.
Yesterday, 16,210 Canberrans aged 16-29 booked their Pfizer vaccination at an ACT Government-led clinic.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said jabs for that cohort are “unlikely” to be administered until October.
Given the time between doses and then for the vaccine’s efficacy to kick in, people in that age group still face two to three months without “vaccine protection”.
“What that means is that the next few months, while we fully vaccinate hundreds of thousands of Canberrans, are going to be difficult,” he said.
With the AIS hub coming online, the ACT Government’s $23 million Garran surge centre, a field hospital initially established to handle any overflow of COVID-19 patients at the onset of the pandemic, will most likely be repurposed as a testing site.
“I suspect that its next most likely use is as a testing centre, but we’ll make some further announcements on that in due course, Mr Barr said last week. “It does, of course, also free up the surge centre to be used as a testing centre or treatment centre down the track.”
Vaccine appointments at the Garran surge centre have been relocated to the AIS with the exception of bookings at the access and sensory vaccination clinic, which will remain at Garran for the time being.
All other people with bookings at Garran have been contacted about the move and have been given alternative options should a straight swap not be appropriate.
Following a callout last month for retired or student nurses to join the ACT Health ranks, some 203 staff have been recruited to aid in the expanded COVID-19 vaccination rollout.
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said they have received over 1000 applications.
“The team anticipates hiring 191 additional nursing staff over the next few weeks,” she said.
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