Melbourne's west is now home to Australia's first drive-through vaccination clinic. On Monday, August 9, the Melton drive-through vaccination clinic officially opened to the public, giving eligible residents the opportunity to roll down their windows and roll up their sleeves to get vaccinated.
The clinic (which is run by Western Health) is located at a former Bunnings Warehouse site at 149 Barries Road and is hoping to deliver up to 10,000 vaccinations a week. For its first week of operation, the clinic is only offering Pfizer vaccinations for those eligible, with AstraZeneca coming online from its second week.
Interested in getting vaccinated from the comfort of your car? First, you'll need to book an appointment online (or by calling 1800 675 398). Then when you drive up to the clinic you'll be screened to confirm your eligibility and if you have any symptoms on entry, before being directed to an identification check-in point. You'll then park your car, roll down your window, roll up your sleeve, get vaccinated and then wait in your car during the 15 minute observation period.
If there are multiple people in your household looking to get vaccinated, the clinic has the ability to vaccinate up to four people per car – though they must be able to access each arm through a window (so a two-door Holden Barina is unhelpful if four people want to get vaccinated together).
The Melton drive-through vaccination clinic (which we will from hereon be referring to as "Vaccas") is expecting to provide 700 vaccinations on its first day of operation, and 5,000 by the end of its first week. From Wednesday, August 11, the Bunnings Warehouse itself will be turned into a more traditional vaccination centre where you enter the building on foot (bookings will still be required).
Unfortunately, it is unlikely the customary post-jab lollypop will be replaced with a Bunnings sausage sanga.