Doctors at a regional South Australian clinic say they were forced to source their own refrigerated trucks to collect much needed COVID-19 paediatric vaccines from the nearest pick-up site five hours way.
Kincraig Medical Clinic principal medical officer Dr Jeff Taylor said vaccines were normally distributed to the clinic by commercial courier and specially packed in refrigerated trucks to ensure vaccines did not degrade.
But he said the clinic was unable to find a transport company to courier vaccines to Naracoorte from Adelaide.
It comes as Naracoorte continues to be a concern for health officials amid climbing COVID-19 active case numbers.
The town was at the centre of a recent COVID outbreak at an abattoir.
Dr Taylor said the state government announced 10,000 additional COVID-19 doses, with clinics having to put an expression of interest by Friday.
Dr Taylor said much of the government response to COVID-19 had been "metro-centric".
"The metro clinics are only 50 minutes down the road, which makes life a lot easier [for them]. This is affecting all of rural South Australia," he said.
Kids vaccine rush
Dr Taylor said the clinic already had 500 children booked in ready for their first paediatric dose.
He said the clinic will secure 400 additional Pfizer doses for children which are due to arrive on Thursday.
Dr Taylor said the clinic currently had a significant supply of adult vaccines and encouraged everyone to get vaccinated.
"So anyone in the South East who wants a booster dose, or their first or second shot, can have that within the next one to two weeks if they wanted to."
Dr Taylor said that it was important children were vaccinated.
In a statement, a federal Department of Health said no vaccine site should, or is expected to, arrange its own vaccination transport from a delivery partner.
The spokesperson said the department continued to effectively facilitate vaccine delivery to regional and remote locations around Australia.
