Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley has taken aim at anti-vaccination protesters who he says have been subjecting health workers to violent, racist abuse and spitting.
Mr Foley said police became involved after an anti-vaccination protester had barged into a vaccination centre in Cranbourne this morning and made threatening remarks to staff.
But a government spokesperson later told the ABC the protester did not enter the centre and police were not called.
The spokesperson said the protester was complaining about blood clots linked to vaccines and called a staff member "a murderer".
Mr Foley said more security staff had been deployed to the mass vaccination centre at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in response to what he called "tin pot" fanatics delivering "verbal abuse, racist abuse, spitting and other vile behaviour".
"Violence, physical and verbal threats against our healthcare workers and call centre staff is not okay and will not be tolerated," he said.
"Whatever wacky theory you might think is real, you are not entitled to abuse our healthcare staff.
"If you think you do, Victoria Police will make an appointment to see you."
Staff being threatened with violence, site manager says
It's a similar story at the Showgrounds vaccination hub, where Allison Lamb is the nurse unit manager.
She said a lot of people were already feeling vulnerable and stressed and nurses and security staff have been on the receiving end of "a lot of occupational violence and aggression."
"The vaccination hub is a busy place with up to 2,000 people a day trying to get vaccinated and too many people are turning up when they're not eligible," Ms Lamb said.
"Some people have the expectation that they get to choose which vaccine that they'll be receiving.
Ms Lamb said it was stressful and very disheartening.
"That puts a lot of stress on us," she said.
"We come here to help. We don't wish to experience any sort of aggression."
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed National Cabinet has agreed to halve the number of people allowed into Australia each week and set up vaccination targets.
International arrivals will now be capped at 3,035 people a week, down from 6,370, but the Commonwealth, in response to this, will increase the number of repatriation flights.
Victoria's Premier Daniel Andrews had flagged earlier this week he would push for a reduction in the cap, saying yesterday that "locking some people out is much better than locking everybody down".
Mr Foley welcomed the move and said there would still be the opportunity for people to travel into Australia on compassionate grounds.
"The kind of arrangements we're talking about are people that come and go for reason that perhaps don't really stack up, and we know that there was a whole range of other categories that, quite frankly given the situation we're in, perhaps aren't as important," he said.
No new COVID-19 cases were recorded in Victoria on Thursday from 24,726 test results.
There were 19,470 vaccine doses delivered at state-run sites.
