Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Matt Hepworth spoke with Palmerston Super Clinic Robyn Cahill on Vaccine 1b Rollout

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Matt Hepworth spoke with Palmerston Super Clinic Robyn Cahill on Vaccine 1b Rollout · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: This week marks the start of the Phase one B
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  Speaker 1: of the COVID nineteen vaccine rollout. Around six million Australians
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  Speaker 1: will be eligible as part of this stage of the
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  Speaker 1: vaccine rollout. But how is it going in the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 1: We'll to find out more. We've got Robin Cahill, who's
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  Speaker 1: from the Palmerston Superclinic on the line now. Robin, good
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  Speaker 1: morning to you.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Matt, Good morning to all of your listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Robin, thank you for taking the time to chat to
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  Speaker 1: us this morning. As I mentioned, phase one B of
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  Speaker 1: the COVID nineteen vaccine rollout commenced on Monday. How has
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  Speaker 1: the first few days been for you guys at the clinic.
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  Speaker 2: Well, for us, it's been about preparing for the vaccination
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  Speaker 2: program because we are also required at the same time
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  Speaker 2: to continue to provide services to people who are suffering
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  Speaker 2: so we like symptoms in our respiratory clinics, so it's
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  Speaker 2: been a little bit of a balancing act to get
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  Speaker 2: the mixed writ in terms of providing that service and
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  Speaker 2: the vaccination service. So our first vaccine clinic is tomorrow
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  Speaker 2: and it is looked solid. So we've got sixty people
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  Speaker 2: booked in for tomorrow afternoon, coming for their first kind
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  Speaker 2: of vaccination. So we're very excited to see territories embracing
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  Speaker 2: this program.
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  Speaker 1: How has that balance been, I mean, it must be
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  Speaker 1: tough for you and so many other gps or anywhere
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  Speaker 1: that is still a functioning health clinic or health business.
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  Speaker 1: It's a new added task and the demand we know
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  Speaker 1: is high. Have you guys had to employ extra staff.
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  Speaker 1: I imagine the staff you do have have had to
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  Speaker 1: go additional training as well.
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  Speaker 2: Well. There certainly has been some additional training for this
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  Speaker 2: vaccination program, and generically the view from our team is
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  Speaker 2: that really they want to approach it. There's no different
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  Speaker 2: to any other vaccination program. It's something that all general
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  Speaker 2: practices do quite regularly, and their services are set up
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  Speaker 2: to be able to do that efficiently and effectively. I
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  Speaker 2: think the issue is that because of the additional monitoring
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  Speaker 2: and the additional concerns that have been raised in the
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  Speaker 2: community to make sure that everybody's very well informed about
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  Speaker 2: what the vaccination process is. The fact that everyone has
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  Speaker 2: to have two vaccinations, which is quite different from our
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  Speaker 2: standard vaccination programs, has probably made it a little more tricky,
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  Speaker 2: but certainly the practices we've talked to and certainly from
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  Speaker 2: the work that we're doing here is that we've been
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  Speaker 2: able to integrate it fairly easily into what we're ordinarily doing.
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  Speaker 2: And our patients are looking to have that vaccination process
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  Speaker 2: provided to them as quickly and efficiently as possible, and
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  Speaker 2: I think all of the gps are involved are going
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  Speaker 2: to be able to do that.
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  Speaker 1: Robin, do you know who's eligible as part of the
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  Speaker 1: Phase one B rollout.
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  Speaker 2: There's certainly the eligibility criteria, so anyone over seventy is
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  Speaker 2: eligible to have the vaccine. People who are frontline workers
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  Speaker 2: who weren't part of the initial one A rollout, So
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  Speaker 2: for example, people who are working in a hospitals who
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  Speaker 2: weren't working at NED, they're now eligible to get the vaccine.
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  Speaker 2: People with chronic conditions, people such as diabetes, chronic airways,
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  Speaker 2: obstructive disease, people who might have been undergoing cancer treatment,
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  Speaker 2: basically that group who are at high risk of becoming
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  Speaker 2: very unwell should they be exposed to COVID.
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  Speaker 1: And so, Robin, you mentioned you kick off at the
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  Speaker 1: clinic tomorrow. How many vaccines will you be able to
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  Speaker 1: administer per day?
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  Speaker 2: So when we are fully functional, So tomorrow, we're just
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  Speaker 2: really wanting to make sure that everything that we've put
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  Speaker 2: in place is going to work as well as we
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  Speaker 2: expect it should, so that as we progress this down
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  Speaker 2: in the next two to three weeks, we're anticipating that
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  Speaker 2: we'll be able to offer between two to three hundred
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  Speaker 2: vaccines today. If the demand is.
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  Speaker 1: There, and I imagine the phone lines have probably been
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  Speaker 1: running red hot of people both inquiring if they can
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  Speaker 1: book in and just trying to find out a little
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  Speaker 1: bit more INFI imagine that that demand will be there
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  Speaker 1: over the next few weeks, definitely.
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  Speaker 2: I think as more people get the vaccine and more
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  Speaker 2: people start talking about it, will actually see the demand increase.
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  Speaker 2: We're certainly going to be running an awareness campaign over
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  Speaker 2: the next couple of weeks to make sure people understand
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  Speaker 2: what the vaccine's all about and how easy it is
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  Speaker 2: for them to come and have the vaccine. Given I
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  Speaker 2: think that some of the media that's occurred in the
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  Speaker 2: last few weeks, of course some concern to some people,
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  Speaker 2: but now that they're seeing it rolling out, now that
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  Speaker 2: they're being able to talk to people who've already had
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  Speaker 2: the vaccine, they're really understanding that this is something that's
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  Speaker 2: so vital and so critical for our community to help
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  Speaker 2: us progress through what has been an incredibly difficult twelve months.
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  Speaker 2: And actually, I can't we all kind of feel like
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  Speaker 2: we're now sitting at the top of the hill and
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  Speaker 2: we're actually seeing the view from the other side, and
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  Speaker 2: we're so excited to be to be able to be
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  Speaker 2: rolling down that hill and actually working with our community
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  Speaker 2: to keep everybody safe.
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  Speaker 1: Robin, what will be the process for someone that might
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  Speaker 1: be booked in tomorrow at ten o'clock? Do they have
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  Speaker 1: to wear a mask upon arrival? Does it take very long?
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  Speaker 1: What's it look like if we've got our listeners sitting
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  Speaker 1: there this morning going, oh, I'm umbooked in later this week.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's actually really quite a quick process. So no,
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  Speaker 2: they don't have to wear a mask because people aren't
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  Speaker 2: coming to the clean they're not unwell. It's just a
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  Speaker 2: standard vaccine. That's how we want to approach it. So
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  Speaker 2: basically what all happen is they'll present at their appointment time.
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  Speaker 2: They'll be given some information just to double check that
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  Speaker 2: they're aware of what they need to do for the vaccine.
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  Speaker 2: They will be consented to have the vaccine. We'll also
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  Speaker 2: be asking them to register for what's called vax trackers
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  Speaker 2: so that we can actually monitor their symptoms over the
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  Speaker 2: coming days after they've had the vaccine, just to make
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  Speaker 2: sure that nobody has the reaction. That's a fairly standard process,
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  Speaker 2: but because there's so many people being vaccinated all at once,
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  Speaker 2: we've actually engaged this tool to help us do that.
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  Speaker 2: They'll have the vaccine. Actually having vaccine probably only takes
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  Speaker 2: about four or five minutes, but then they'll have to
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  Speaker 2: wait fifteen minutes post the vaccine before they're able to leave,
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  Speaker 2: just so that we can make sure that there's no
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  Speaker 2: mediate reaction to the vaccine and that they're okay to
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  Speaker 2: leave now. Anyone who may have a history of anaphylaxis
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  Speaker 2: will probably be asking them to stay a little longer,
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  Speaker 2: that's about half an hour, just to make sure, and
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  Speaker 2: anyone who might have serious chronic illnesses will probably ask
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  Speaker 2: them to stick around a half an hour as well,
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  Speaker 2: just to make sure that everything's okay for them before
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  Speaker 2: we send them heart.
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  Speaker 1: Just finally, Robin, if there are people listening this morning
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  Speaker 1: within that Phase one B and they are looking to
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  Speaker 1: book in or they want more information, where can they go, Well.
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  Speaker 2: They can go to our website which is www dot
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  Speaker 2: Palmerston gpsuserclinic dot com. There's lots of information on there
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  Speaker 2: for them. And the good thing is too, we've also
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  Speaker 2: got the eligibility check on theirselves. People aren't sure if
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  Speaker 2: they're able to get the vaccine in the one B rollout,
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  Speaker 2: they can simply go onto our website, click onto the
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  Speaker 2: eligibility check a link and they can find out for
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  Speaker 2: themselves and if they are eligible, then they can actually
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  Speaker 2: book in. And what they'll find is when they've got
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  Speaker 2: a book in, they'll be asked that series of questions
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  Speaker 2: again just to make absolutely certain that they're eligible. And
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  Speaker 2: then once they've then done that, they can select the
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  Speaker 2: chime it suits them and then pop into the clinic
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  Speaker 2: at their time and have their vaccine.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Robin, I know it's a very busy time for
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  Speaker 1: you guys at the clinic. It's like you said, we're
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  Speaker 1: at the top of the hill, which is great to
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  Speaker 1: hear and great to see. Myself or Katie might check
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  Speaker 1: in a couple of weeks time to find out how
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  Speaker 1: it's all going. Thank you so much for taking the
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  Speaker 1: time to chat to us. This morning.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks Matt, and thanks for getting the message out there
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  Speaker 2: to people because it is absolutely critical that people get
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  Speaker 2: on board with this.
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  Speaker 1: Oh it absolutely is. God on your Robin, thank you
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  Speaker 1: for your time.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks Matt.
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  Speaker 1: That's Robin Cahill from the Palmerston super Clinic there with
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  Speaker 1: a little bit more information about their COVID nineteen vaccine
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  Speaker 1: roll out Phase one B. They'll be getting underway with
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  Speaker 1: those vaccines tomorrow and as Robin said, if you do
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  Speaker 1: want more info, there are plenty of people who still
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  Speaker 1: hold concerns or perhaps you're ready to go, you're in
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  Speaker 1: that Phase one B roll out and you want the
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  Speaker 1: jab you can head to their website, the Palmerston Superclinic website.
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  Speaker 1: More info there, of course, Corohealth dot gov dot au,
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  Speaker 1: or on the Anti Government website there is more info
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  Speaker 1: there as well