A super Saturday event with a difference is being held in Wollongong on September 11.
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And, it won't involve a massive sale at Myer, David Jones or Harvey Norman.
It will however be held in the old David Jones site in Wollongong, which is now home to the Mass Vaccination Centre.
The Wollongong vaccination hub will in fact host many Super Saturday events.
The first on September 11 will cater for education workers and students.
The event is the first of many to be offered by the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District (ISLHD) in a bid to increase community access to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
More than 600 priority AstraZeneca appointments will be made available over three consecutive Saturdays.
ISJHD is calling on all education workers (across all sectors including early childhood, pre-school, school, VET, and university), education students and healthcare students to roll up their sleeves and get their vaccination.
ISLHD executive director Nursing and Midwifery and Clinical Governance, Deborah Cameron, said the district was focused on making it as easy as possible for local educators and students to access the vaccine.
"We've had an overwhelmingly positive response to the opening of our mass vaccination centre in Wollongong and have administered about 27,000 doses of COVID vaccine over the last month,' Ms Cameron said.
"We want to keep the momentum going by encouraging as many people as possible to come forward and get their jab.
"We're inviting all education workers, education students and healthcare students, who have yet to receive the vaccine to make an appointment today."
Meantime, ISLHD has further strengthened local plans for projected demand over the coming months, in line with the NSW Government announcement of of a stepped approach to increasing the state's Intensive Care Unit and COVID ward capacity.
ISLHD chief executive Margot Mains said a peak in hospital bed and ICU utilisation across NSW was anticipated by late October/early November, with between 2200 and 3900 people likely to need hospitalisation, based on demand modelling.
Wollongong Hospital's COVID Intensive Care Unit is currently working at 75 per cent of its level one capacity. This includes patients transferred from other LHDs, requiring higher level care - however bed capacity continues to be routinely allocated for local COVID patients, should the need arise.
Ms Mains said a second COVID ICU was not required yet, however, an area dedicated for it was ready and it could be established within 12 hours if needed.
"Once ICU two is established, our capacity will increase to around 30 beds with the possibility of 40. Of course, we are also working through the logistics of what additional expansion of ICU capacity at Wollongong may be possible, should the need arise," she said.
Wollongong Hospital's dedicated COVID Ward areas are currently working to around 30 per cent of the dedicated COVID bed capacity.
"Wollongong's capacity to care for COVID patients in a dedicated ward will increase to 74 beds over the next three weeks, by utilising the space that previously housed the COVID vaccination clinic. This has been enabled by the clinic's relocation to the Mass Vaccination Centre in Wollongong CBD," she said.
Super Saturday vaccinations for healthcare students will run on September 18 and 25 from 8am to 4pm. Bookings are essential, visit islhd.health.nsw.gov.au for details.
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