Planning your COVID-19 clinic

There are some key areas you and your practice can start considering now to be prepared to deliver COVID-19 vaccines in the future:

• Staffing: ensure you have enough trained immunisation staff to administer COVID-19 vaccines in addition to flu vaccines in 2020
• Logistics: think about how you will arrange a COVID-safe immunisation workflow. Ensure you have sufficient cold chain capacity for additional vaccines. Consider how you will manage the security of your vaccine storage.
• Documentation: ensure your practice has up to date software and all staff have access to required PRODA accounts to enable recording of vaccinations and transmission to AIR
• Training: COVID-19 immunisers will require additional training on the vaccine and dosing since the vaccines will be packaged in multi-dose vials. Staff will need allocated time to undertake the training when it becomes available from the Commonwealth Department of Health. Find information here from the Australian Government about the upcoming free and accredited COVID-19 vaccine training program for the administration of COVID-19 vaccines. This will be available for authorised immunisation providers, non-clinical and administration staff.
• Communication: clear and open communication with patients will be required to ensure the success of the vaccination strategy. Vaccination patient information and frequently asked questions will be available in coming weeks, however, you can commence preparation for conversations with patients by reading The COVID-19 Vaccine Communication Handbook developed by the University of Bristol with Julie Leask from the University of Sydney one of the lead authors.