Clinic closing amid wave of COVID cases and hospitalisations, says Albury Wodonga Health

Albury Wodonga Health executive director Dr Lucie Shanahan said the decision to shut operations at the central Wodonga testing and distribution site was a matter of government resourcing and responsibility.

"We are still locally within another wave, a surge of COVID-19, and we know that infection rates have increased locally in the past couple of weeks," Dr Shanahan said

"We are very conscious that people are moving into a highly festive and socialising phase, and we know we are at risk of COVID-19 spreading."

Across the Ovens Murray catchment population of 109,000, the public health unit has administered more than 170,000 COVID-19 vaccines and handed out more than 154,000 rapid antigen tests [RATs] to date.

Dr Shanahan's comments followed an announcement that the Victorian government would close its nine remaining state-run vaccination services last week.

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Vaccinations at the static site ended on December 23, one day after the Victorian health minister announced the statewide decision, with free RAT distribution to continue until the end of the year.

From next year that responsibility will move to councils, where eligibility is expected to narrow.

Communicable Diseases Manager Jenny Keogh encouraged Victorian residents to stock up on RATs while they could, as the tests become the "primary tool" for early detection of COVID-19.

"Always have those RATs in the cupboard so that you can quickly test. That's why it is so important for people over the next few days to come in and get their RATs while they can and have a stock in the cupboard," Ms Keogh said.

"And particularly if you are turning up negative on a RAT but you still have symptoms, go and get a PCR and talk to your general practitioner."

Dr Shanahan concurred, urging Border residents to avoid severe illness over the Christmas-New Year period by adhering to COVID-safe advice.

"We have seen an increase in hospitalisation rates in the past week or so. We certainly do have a number of people admitted to Albury and Wodonga hospitals at the moment with COVID-19," Dr Shanahan said.

"However, again, relatively speaking it is not the volume that we saw earlier this year or even at the end of last year. And, again, those numbers are plateauing at the moment so we have seen a steadying of the number of people presenting to hospital with COVID-19."

Dr Shanahan said the involvement of the Ovens Murray Public Heath Unit in the COVID response was a result of "extraordinary" circumstances, with the responsibility of vaccines traditionally belonging to councils and general practitioners.

"As much as it seems like a shock announcement, our numbers would tell us that this is the right time to be decommissioning this site and then just looking at a mobile options," Dr Shanahan said.

"It is not typical that the health service delivers public vaccination services, and so it is time to go back to the public health unit not being the port of call for most vaccination.

"We can provide vaccines in response to demand, so if we do see a local response looking for particular vaccination - noting that our team also provide [vaccines for] Japanese encephalitis, mpox and COVID - we will respond as we need to to the public requirements," she said.

Ms Keogh said plans for the Ovens Murray Public Health Unit to mobilise vaccination programs for areas of high demand next year were not yet known.

"We're just going to wait and see what the department and ATAGI recommend," Ms Keogh said.

"As for outreach, we will await advice from the Department of Health."

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