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Cairns’ last remaining COVID-19 vaccination hub will close its doors this weekend, while testing clinics across the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service (CHHHS) area will shut next week.

The final jabs will be given at The Pier shopping centre vaccination hub on Sunday.

Rural clinics in Innisfail, Atherton, Mareeba and Mossman will still be administering vaccinations until June 30, while the mobile vaccination van will have its last pop-up clinic during the June/July school holidays at Smithfield Shopping Centre.

After that, jabs will only be available at GPs and pharmacists.

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CHHHS COVID-19 vaccine director, Kelly Pollock, said a quarter of a million COVID-19 vaccinations have been delivered across the region since February last year.

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“More than 95 per cent of people aged 16 and over have received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while nearly 94 per cent of people aged 16 and over have received two doses," she said.

“We are still recording dozens of COVID-19 cases in our region every day, but the fact that we have so many people protected against serious illness as a result of COVID-19 infection is a remarkable achievement.”

She said the First Nations COVID-19 Response team will continue to conduct outreach across the Cairns and Hinterland region until required.

The final testing swabs will be taken at the Portsmith, Tully, Innisfail, Atherton, Mareeba and Mossman testing clinics next Friday, June 17.

CHHHS Executive Director COVID-19 Response, Dr Donna Goodman, said the Health Service’s Health Emergency Operations Centre (HEOC) had also been stood down over the past week.

“The HEOC was responsible for a range of tasks, from managing quarantine accommodation, to establishing COVID-19 testing clinics, tracking and expanding the procurement of Personal Protective Equipment," she said.

“That we have reached a point now where we are able to disband not only our HEOC but most of our COVID-19 Response is a credit to everyone who dedicated their lives during the past two years to preventing a potentially fatal virus from enveloping our communities.”

Staff members will now return to their former roles within the Health Service.

covid-19
vaccinations
testing

Main points

  • The Pier shopping centre vaccination hub closes on 12 June
  • Rural clinics will offer vaccines until 30 June
  • Testing hubs will close on 17 June
We are in a much better place now, compared to when we administered our first COVID-19 vaccine.
kelly pollack
CHHHS COVID-19 vaccine director