The debut of the “All Saints'” vaccination centre against COVID-19 has been a great success so far with many locals of Belmore, and other surrounding suburbs of Sydney’s west, turning out to get the jab.
The centre belongs to the Greek Orthodox Parish & Community and is the indoor “Gymnasium” for the Community’s College which bears the same name.
Belmore is in the heavily impacted Canterbury-Bankstown Local Government Area (LGA). The centre opened its doors on Wednesday 18th to vaccinate local citizens including walk-in people and those with booked appointments.
“The indoor gym is provided free of charge for its operation as a pop-up vaccination centre,” said the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia in a statement, adding that we are “making a practical contribution to accelerating the vaccination program against COVID-19”.
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Many local citizens, Greek-Australians and people of various other ethnic backgrounds, went in on its opening day from the early hours of the morning into the late afternoon. It is estimated that approximately 500 vaccine doses will be administered daily.
Such was the need for the operation of this centre that whilst Neos Kosmos was at the perimeter of the centre on Wednesday afternoon, other centre(s) from the area (Campsie) were redirecting people to the All Saints Centre to receive the jab.
Most of the volunteers assisting the staff from NSW Health were Greek-speaking and came from the Archdiocese’s Welfare Centre.
Neos Kosmos spoke to volunteers, whom for confidentiality reasons did not want to go record.
However, they mentioned they were overwhelmingly pleased with the turnout and the efficiency of vaccinations, which was aided by the 50 waiting seats inside the gym in addition to the marked off road space for people to queue outside.
Stelios Rafaletos, President of the Parish and Community of All Saints, revealed to Neos Kosmos that the plans for the clinic are to run an additional two weeks despite initially being scheduled for just this week.
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The vaccination hub will be open 10 am-4 pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays for the next three weeks (including this one) under the supervision of health and support staff from the Department of Health.
In a special message, Archbishop Makarios urged “everyone, Greeks and non-Greeks alike, to support this effort, each according to their position and strength, with the aim of overcoming the current pandemic as quickly as possible.”