Queensland health authorities are pleading with people to get booster doses, but a prominent Brisbane GP says she has been forced to cancel COVID-19 vaccine appointments because supplies of shots have not arrived.
Over the weekend, seven elderly people died from COVID-19 in Queensland. Health Minister Yvette D'Ath yesterday stressed the urgency of getting a booster shot, highlighting none of those who died had received a third dose of a vaccine.
A further 16 deaths were announced today and Ms D'Ath said of the 45 people that had died in Queensland from COVID in the current Omicron wave, but only one had received a vaccine booster shot.
But Maria Boulton, the chair of the Australian Medical Association of Queensland's Council of General Practice, said many GPs were finding deliveries of vaccines inconsistent, which meant practices had to cancel booster and vaccination clinics.
At the moment, GPs and pharmacies are only able to administer boosters at the rate they are supplied with them by the Commonwealth government.
As a result, many older people may be eligible to receive their booster shot, but have not been able to get an appointment with their GP.
Dr Boulton said GPs had been told not to book patients in for vaccinations without actually having the supply at hand.
"The Commonwealth needs to shore up the deliveries to GPs so we are able to offer clinics with certainty, so we can spend time putting vaccinations in arms, rather than cancelling bookings," she said.
Dr Boulton said on the same day Queensland's Health Minister and Chief Health Officer urged people to prioritise getting their booster shot, she was forced to cancel dozens of bookings.
"We were meant to run a booster clinic to vaccinate a 12-and-over group and our vaccines didn't arrive so we had to cancel the clinic and move it," she said.
"That is 150 people."
Ms D'Ath said she wanted to discuss speeding up the rollout of boosters with her fellow state and territory health ministers.
"How quickly we can get these boosters into these aged care facilities is absolutely paramount," she said.
"I know that some of the outreach that the Commonwealth have been doing, there hasn't been 100 per cent take up of boosters, and I want to know why.
"I don't want to hear that two thirds ended up taking up a booster. Are we not messaging properly?"
Ms D'Ath said the Commonwealth had the responsibility to distribute vaccines to protect the most vulnerable members of the community.
"This is dropping the ball at the most critical time. We need vaccines in arms," she said.
"We need the five- to 11-year-olds, vaccinated we need the 12- to 15-year-old vaccinated, most importantly, we need the elderly people getting their booster and it should not be a supply issue."
Ms D'Ath encouraged loved ones of older people to help them find appointments for boosters as a matter of priority.
Demand for booster shots 'hard to predict'
Karen Price, president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), said in general, the Commonwealth government had been responsive in making more vaccine booster shots available to GPs who requested them.
She said the challenge for GPs rolling out booster shots was fitting it into already busy schedules.
"You want to streamline it — it is that capacity to balance business as usual with vaccinations."
She said booster sessions took staff and rooms away from general practice, so many GPs were under strain.
"It is hard to predict how much of a surge you will have in a local area," she said.
"That's the local challenges of having a fixed supply — it is different to the flu vaccinations where there are no restrictions on ordering them."
Elderly people reluctant to go to vaccination clinics
Dr Boulton also said she had heard reports of aged care facilities where private contractors hired to do the booster rollout had not yet started.
Mark Tucker-Evans, chief executive of the Council on the Ageing (COTA) in Queensland, said there were many aged people who might be housebound and finding it difficult to get the transport to a place they could receive their booster shot.
He said these elderly people were typically those who were getting services in their home already and might have compromised mobility.
"Transport for some older people continues to be a major issue, [even] without COVID," he said.
"Additionally, some are reluctant [to leave their homes] because they are very concerned about their health.
"Most older people aren't vulnerable — we have very fit people [aged] in their 90s and 100s — but there is a percentage of our population at every age that are vulnerable.
"As they are seeing this play out, they are reluctant to leave home."
He said messaging around social distancing made some older people think they should not leave their homes.
Mr Tucker-Evans said COTA had been trying to counter this with public messaging that social distancing should be interpreted as "physical distance" but "staying socially connected".
He said many older people were far more likely to want to visit their local GP to receive a booster than attend a vaccination clinic.
"That is people's preference — to keep in touch with their GP — probably more than [in] any other age group," Mr Tucker-Evans said.
"They have a relationship with their GP and they want to ensure they are fully informed with any issues."
'Very sick patients' in Gold Coast hospitals
On the Gold Coast, which has been singled out as a region with a lagging vaccination rate, local health officials said COVID-19 was "everywhere" and people in hospital with the virus are "very sick".
Jeremy Wellwood, executive director of medical services at Gold Coast Health, said the service was "in the thick" of the COVID-19 outbreak.
"COVID is everywhere on the [Gold] Coast — we're getting thousands of cases each day," Dr Wellwood said.
"Our team are riding that COVID wave and they're doing a massive job, but the number of patients are high and we have around 170 COVID-positive patients — this is taking up seven dedicated wards and two ICU wards.
"We know we have the bases covered, but it's a matter of staying one step ahead of that wave."
Dr Wellwood said hospitals on the Gold Coast had "very sick patients" with COVID-19.
"Please get your boosters because we know that is a significant way of preventing you needing our service.
"You don't want to come to us if you don't need to."
He said over the next week or two, the health system would see a peak in cases.
"We can expect that those inpatient numbers could potentially double," he said.
Dr Wellwood also said the public system had partnered with private hospitals to share the load of non-COVID cases.
"This is a moment in history that we may never see again," he said.
"No-one is shirking their duties. They're just putting up their hand and it's amazing to see how it works."
ICUs 'full of unvaccinated people'
Nigel McMillan from the Menzies Health Institute said when looking around the world, intensive care units were "full of unvaccinated people".
He said by the end of February, Queensland should have experienced a peak in infections and by March should be "returning to normal".
"We had an elimination strategy, we had those outbreaks in Victoria and all those places, and now we have let it run and we are in a vaccinated situation," he said.
"We are going to get to a herd-immunity stage either through vaccination or infection.
"You can look at the death rate in the US and UK and you can see we are far, far lower, so vaccinations are working."
Professor McMillan said in the elderly and vulnerable, booster shots would be the best chance of recovering from the virus.
"Particularly in those elderly and vulnerable patients, for both it is certainly going to help if everyone is vaccinated and has an immune system," he said.
