Before Victoria launched a state-wide online vaccine booking platform in late July, Geelong-based Barwon Health worked with Melbourne-based IT company Circle T to develop CovaxApp, a vaccine booking and administration tool that supported the early vaccination drive in the state's Southwest and Geelong region. 

WHY IT MATTERS

According to Barwon Health's media release, the CoVaxApp platform supported on-site vaccination processes, reporting of patient outcomes and online bookings. The system had enabled the administration of over 140,000 COVID-19 vaccines and during peak times, it was able to assist in inoculating 3,000 persons daily.

THE LARGER TREND

Victoria is currently under a seven-day lockdown following a fresh COVID-19 outbreak due to the spread of the Delta variant. 

To augment its vaccination rate, the state government said it will start inoculating residents aged 18-39 with AstraZeneca vials in nine out of its 50 state-run clinics. Victoria has so far administered 1.8 million doses, fully vaccinating over 600,000 citizens. 

A soft launch of a drive-through vaccination centre in a Melton site is reportedly underway; it will start administering 10,000 Pfizer doses weekly. 

In other news, the Austin Hospital in Melbourne recently rolled out HotDoc's scheduling platform and tools for eligibility screening and stock management of COVID-19 vaccines. With HotDoc’s solutions, it plans to book approximately 1,000 patients for vaccinations each day.

ON THE RECORD

"We had a clear view of what was needed to deliver an efficient vaccination programme across the region and by leveraging standard cloud platforms, we knew we could have the system up and running to support the vaccine rollout within days," Matt Morris, director of Health Information and Analytics at Barwon Health, said.

"We couldn’t be prouder of what we achieved with Barwon Health in accelerating the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine[s]. We were acutely aware when we were making a hard commitment when accepting this challenge, with its short timeframe and real public health outcomes," Circle T Founder and Managing Director Hamish Toll also commented.