Australia’s vaccine rollout in one picture: Chairs sit empty as HUNDREDS fail to turn up for their jabs over blood clot fears

Australia’s vaccine rollout in one picture: Chairs sit empty as HUNDREDS fail to turn up for their jabs over blood clot fears.

By SAM MCPHEE FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

• Vaccination centre pictured completely empty despite 300 people booked in
• Ryde Respiratory Clinic in Sydney’s north was supposed to jab hundreds 
• People shared images on Wednesday encouraging people to walk in to get shot 

One of Australia’s vaccine centres has been pictured completely empty despite 300 people being booked in for their jabs in the latest reminder of the damning reality of the country’s bungled system.

The vaccination facility in Ryde in Sydney’s north had received the bookings on Wednesday but instead next to no one showed up.

‘If you are looking to be vaccinated the Ryde Respiratory Clinic are operating. They were expecting 300 people a day but it’s empty,’ a woman posted to a local community page.

‘If you are happy to have the AstraZeneca vaccine and are over 50… book!’

Images of the centre show a large empty room full of plastic chairs designed to hold hundreds of people wanting to be vaccinated.

One attendee took his elderly mother to get her shot and ended up receiving the vaccine himself because of how quiet the facility was.

‘It was very quiet, operating at about 25% capacity, so they did me as well despite being under 70,’ the man said.

‘If you’re in the district and over 50 you can pretty much walk in this arvo as there are dozens of slots available.’

Dozens of others said their local facilities were also empty and that people over 50-years-old seeking the controversial AstraZeneca jab could easily get an appointment or simply walk in.

Others criticised the vaccination system, saying it ‘wasn’t really communicated’ to locals that they could so easily access it.

The mass vaccination centre in Homebush in Sydney’s west is yet to open. It plans to inoculate 30,000 people per week 

A small number of blood clotting cases in people having received the AstraZeneca vaccine put a stop to the government’s plans to have the country vaccinated by the end of the year.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has refused to set a date for when every Australian will receive their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine after blood clot fears over the AstraZeneca jab threw the nation’s vaccination program into chaos.

The Federal Government initially set an October deadline to inoculate all people in Australia but Mr Morrison said they were no longer in a position to say when the vaccine program will be completed.

‘The government has… not set, nor has any plans to set any new targets for completing first doses,’ he said.

‘While we would like to see these doses completed before the end of the year, it is not possible to set such targets given the many uncertainties involved.’

Morrison has ordered 20 million doses of the American Pfizer vaccine, but the first shipments aren’t expected to arrive until the end of 2021.