Monday, 20 September, 2021: Woolworths Group is launching vaccination hubs to deliver vaccines to its team members and family members in western Sydney LGAs severely impacted by COVID-19.

With the assistance of the Federal Government National COVID Vaccine Taskforce, Woolworths Group has established pop-up vaccination hubs at its closed Wetherill Park and Canterbury-Bankstown BIG W stores. 

Another hub is set to open at BIG W’s Carnes Hill store to help cover the Liverpool and Canterbury LGA communities from later in the month. Due to the Sydney lockdown, these stores have been closed to in-store customers since July 2021.

The hubs are set up to deliver vaccinations to Woolworths Group team members, and their households, who live in the LGAs.

Woolworths Group Head of COVID response, Ross Spencer said: “As Australia’s largest private employer, we’re delighted to be playing our part in accelerating the national vaccine rollout with the Federal Government.

“Making vaccine access easy and simple is key to driving uptake. We’ve seen that in our distribution centres already and we’re seeing it now as we stand up these vaccination hubs.

“Our pilot clinic in Wetherill Park has administered more than 200 doses in the first week and bookings are growing as more team members become familiar with it.

“We are working with the Federal Government to open similar vaccination hubs across the country as opportunities become available.”

Woolworths Group has engaged accredited provider International SOS to lead the vaccination process, governance, and reporting requirements to NSW Health. By teaming up with accredited partners the vaccination hubs do not remove trained people from the government’s existing vaccination programs.

Woolworths Group hosted pop-up clinics have been operating at distribution and fulfilment centres since July and have administered more than 7,500 doses.

Woolworths Group employs more than 160,000 Australians, including more than 140,000 team members in frontline roles across Supermarkets, BIG W and Distribution Centres. The retailer provides up to eight hours of paid COVID vaccination leave (taken as two instances of four hours) for frontline team members. 

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For further queries, please contact: Woolworths Group Media on media@woolworths.com.au