Sarah Oliver
The state government is calling on Melton and Moorabool residents who are eligible to be trained in administering COVID vaccines to put their hand up.
Up to 1000 new vaccinators will be trained up, including first-year health students and retired nurses, which will mean more vaccines being administered as demand increases.
The expanded force will join nurse and pharmacist immunisers in state-run vaccination clinics for up to six months and will be supervised by experienced clinicians.
Known as Limited Scope COVID-19 Vaccinators, they will be required to successfully complete mandatory Commonwealth and Victorian COVID-19 vaccination training.
This will be equivalent to training requirements for other emergency authorised COVID vaccination workforces.
They will also complete an assessment to ensure they can perform their duties appropriately.
The state government said they will not be responsible for establishing patient consent and will be authorised to administer the vaccine to people over the age of 18 years only.
With millions of Victorians eligible for their third dose soon, Acting Health Minister James Merlino said: “we’re doing everything we can to ensure the community can access a vaccine as quickly and as safely as possible.”
“With comprehensive training and supervision – we’re helping 1000 Victorians in relevant fields get the training they need to join our vaccination efforts.”
