Baxter launches on-site pop-up COVID vaccination clinic

MedTech News: Baxter Healthcare has launched an on-site pop-up vaccination clinic at its Western Sydney site this week to support its local manufacturing, warehouse and pharmaceutical compounding employees.

The company is partnering with NSW Health to have registered clinicians set up on its Toongabbie campus to administer the AstraZeneca vaccine to employees.

The vaccinations are free and offered to all NSW employees onsite or working from home as a convenient opportunity to help stop the spread of COVID-19 in Western Sydney and NSW.

As Australia’s only local manufacturer of intravenous (IV) medical fluids, peritoneal dialysis solutions and the largest network of compounding sites in Australia, Baxter Healthcare has ramped up its operations over the past 18 months to increase supply to local hospitals during the pandemic.

More than 600 employees work across Baxter Healthcare’s sites in NSW including the company’s manufacturing operations for the Oceania region in Toongabbie and its major distribution centre in Wetherill Park.

To help protect its healthcare operations and employees, the company’s Western Sydney site is operating on strict health and safety protocols including all non-essential front line employees working from home, temperature testing for all workers and visitors on arrival, QR code checks on entry, mandatory use of mask on-site, 3-day COVID-19 surveillance testing for employees in identified LGA hotspots, and strict site segregation among its workforce to avoid infections between teams and shifts.

Baxter General Manager for Australia and New Zealand, Mr Steven Flynn, said “Protecting the health and safety of our employees is our top priority.

“We recognise our operations and the reliable supply of our Baxter products are critical to our local healthcare system.

“Since the very early days of this pandemic, we have mandated strict health and safety protocols on site to avoid infection among our workforce.

“We are extremely proud of how all our employees have adapted and responded to the constant changes of this pandemic and the resilience of all our teams across Australia and New Zealand.”

As well as protecting its workforce with on-site vaccinations, Baxter Healthcare pharmaceutical compounding staff are also working with NSW Health on the frontline preparing Pfizer vaccination doses as part of the State’s mass vaccination program.

The company’s skilled compounding technicians have been called on to help prepare the vaccine doses from multi-dose vials of the Pfizer vaccine and supplying pre-filled syringes of Baxter Australian Made saline solution.

Earlier this year, it was announced Baxter International’s global operations would partner with BioNTech for Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines as well as Moderna on the sterile manufacture fill and finish component of vaccine production.