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A SECOND Victorian aged care resident has tested positive to COVID-19.
Aged Care Services Minister Richard Colbeck confirmed the news in senate estimates on Wednesday afternoon.
The 90-year-old resident from the Maidstone Acare facility was asymptomatic, Senator Colbeck said, but would be transferred out of the centre.
The resident initially tested negative to coronavirus before returning a positive test on Wednesday.
The 90-year-old has had two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine
Earlier
Over 90 per cent of Bendigo Health's aged care residents have been vaccinated against coronavirus as well as around two-thirds of the aged-care staff as Victoria enters a six-day vaccination blitz for aged care and disability service workers.
Bendigo Health chief executive Peter Faulkner said walk-ups for AstraZeneca vaccinations have ceased across the public health service's facilities to ease the pressure of the vaccine supply.
"Generally we would expect those people to have been a part of the Commonwealth roll-out as they had the primary responsibility for those other than public sector aged care workers," he said. "In our own aged care services, we'd undertaken that work.
"We're largely ceasing walk-ups because of the pressures of supply of AstraZeneca and we want to ensure that there is adequate supply to support this high-risk workforce.
"Anyone who is an aged care or disability service worker can present to our vaccination clinic with their work ID and they will be fast-tracked through."
Mr Faulkner said while the Bendigo Health vaccination numbers were strong, they are indicative of the region's aged care and disability service workers and the public health service was expecting a "solid roll-up" of workers getting vaccinated.
Mr Faulkner was confident the measures already in place would respond appropriately to the demand for the vaccine.
"The pressure remains on the supply of the vaccine and there is not an abundant supply across the state," he said.
"Whilst we're confident that we could manage the demand, we would be delighted if every GP and every pharmacy was doing vaccinations and people weren't having to fall back to the state clinics.
"Our clinics were intended to be a back up to that program, not the primary response."
READ MORE:
Bendigo Health chair Bob Cameron warned people should be on "high alert" as fragments of coronavirus were found in Bendigo and Axedale's wastewater.
"We want to talk about the pressure we're under in our vaccination program," he said. "We would dearly love the pressure to be taken off.
"It's so important GPs can get more vaccines and pharmices can get vaccines.
"Still, we don't have a single pharmacy with the vaccine.
"You think about that, if a pharmacy has the AstraZeneca, effectively what you have is a mini vaccination hub in every locality."
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