Queensland Health has teamed up with a country music festival to get more jabs in arms in the battle against Covid-19.
This weekend’s Savannah in the Round music festival, which will take place in Mareeba in the Cairns hinterland, will be headlined by John Butler, John Williamson, Lee Kernaghan and Sheppard.
Also on the lineup: a vaccination hub, offering festival goers a free dose of the Pfizer jab.
While the festival claims to be Australia’s first to give out vaccines, there is global precedent: last month in the UK, pop-up vaccination centres featured at the Reading and Leeds music festivals; and in July, an electronic pop music festival in Ottawa, Canada vaccinated hundreds of festival goers.
As of Wednesday, fewer than 50% of Queenslanders aged 16 and older were fully vaccinated, compared to NSW with almost 62%.
Festival director James Dein said the partnership with Queensland Health would contribute to the state getting back to normal.
“Creating a festival in the middle of a pandemic is no easy task, but vaccination is the key to freedom,” he said.
“We have worked hard for over two years now on ensuring our Covid plan is best practice, and while we’re proud of the event we’ll be delivering to the Tropical North this weekend, we are urging our patrons to join us in getting the jab so that normal life can be just around the corner.”
