Unusual places to get a COVID vaccination

A former Bunnings warehouse in Melton is one of the more unusual locations to get a COVID-19 vaccination.  Picture: Getty
A former Bunnings warehouse in Melton is one of the more unusual locations to get a COVID-19 vaccination. Picture: Getty

The locations for Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout are almost as diverse as the people who are lining up for the jabs.

Hospitals, health centres, GP clinics and pharmacies are providing vaccines, but state and territory governments have employed many places not normally associated with health care.

In a tough year economically, governments have even rented retail and industrial space for this vital COVID response. Here are some of the more unusual COVID-19 vaccination sites.

ACT vaccination hubs

The ACT Government is inadvertently reminding Canberrans of the freedoms we’ll enjoy as COVID vaccination rates climb.

It has established vaccination hubs at Canberra Airport and the Australian Institute of Sport Stadium among five ACT Government vaccination sites.

Remembering the joys of a big sporting crowd or an overseas holiday is great incentive to get the jab.

VIC vaccination hubs

Victorians have a vast array of unusual vaccination locations. In August, Australia’s first drive-through COVID-19 vax clinic opened in an old Bunnings Warehouse. Sadly, there are no drive-through snags on the menu.

The former Ford factories in Geelong has powered up the drive to beat the pandemic, and its sister plant in Campbellfield, in Melbourne’s north, was also a vax centre until recently.

 

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If you accept that there is now a vaccination race, Victoria has you covered with racecourse vax clinics in Traralgon, Cranbourne and Sandown.

Where better to get a jab in the arm than an army depot? Kiarivu Barracks in Mildura is now in the frontline of the pandemic fight.

A tourism venue, the Mercure Hotel Ballarat and Convention Centre, has put its weight behind vaccination efforts in the goldfields city. Victoria is also taking COVID jabs on the road with pop-up hubs in hot spots in Melbourne’s north and west.

NSW vaccination hubs

NSW went for gold in the vaccination race with three vax centre at Sydney Olympic Park, in the city’s west.

Just as in Melbourne, a former Bunnings Warehouse in Belmont, on the Central Coast, has swapped hammers and nails for needles.

The old David Jones department store in Wollongong’s CBD is open to ensure Illawarra residents can get the jab.

South Australia vaccination hubs

Retail sites feature prominently in South Australia’s coronavirus vaccine locations, including the Myer Centre in Adelaide’s CBD and old retail spaces in Mount Barker in the Adelaide Hills, Gawler on Adelaide’s northern outskirts, Berri in the Riverland and Mount Gambier.

In small towns in SA’s west, sporting facilities like the Cowell Bowling Club and the Elliston Sports Centre are in play, while old mechanics’ institutes in Streaky Bay, Kimba, Cummins and Cleve are also vaccination hubs.

The Adelaide Showgrounds are one of Adelaide’s major vax centres.

Western Australia vaccination hubs

Perth shopping centres at Midland, Joondalup and Kwinana, Perth Airport and the Claremont Showgrounds house the city’s five government vaccine hubs.

Outside Perth, regional public health units and immunisation clinics cater for vaccine demand.

NT vaccination hubs

Two suburban sports and social clubs, the Tracy Centre and the Palmerston Hub, both offer COVID vaccinations for the NT Government.

In the NT and across the outback, the Royal Flying Doctor Service has taken vaccines to more than 22,000 people in tiny remote communities and pastoral stations to ensure everyone who wants a jab can get one.

Queensland vaccination hubs

Queenslanders have also joined the vax race, with Brisbane’s Doomben Racecourse now also a COVID jab location.

Retail sites feature in Queensland’s response – in Toowoomba and the former Village Wholesale Centre in Kippa-Ring in Brisbane’s north.

Palm Island off the north Queensland coast is one of two island locations for vaccination hubs, along with Kangaroo Island in SA.

Tasmania vaccination hubs

Beyond hospitals and health centres, some Tasmanian COVID-19 vaccination centres have a distinct sporting flavour.

The Rosny Park Bowling Club and Blundstone Arena in Hobart, the Strachan Golf Club, the Devonport Surf Life Saving Club, the Ulverstone Rowing Club, and Scottsdale’s indoor sports centre are now vaccination centres along with the Heemskirk Motor Hotel in Zeehan on the west coast.

And while a South Launceston church hall isn’t an unusual location, its name helps us look to the future as vaccination rates rise. It’s the Door of Hope Church.

 

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