![\"Dr](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/5d3c5e2a685eca88ff0d2bb056f7066d.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nBrisbane parents are being turned away from GP clinics due to a shortage of childhood vaccines.<\/p>\n
Vaccine deliveries were disrupted after a retaining wall collapsed at a Richlands distribution centre earlier this month, forcing it to close.<\/p>\n
Brisbane doctor Maria Boulton told 612 ABC Radio Brisbane her clinic was still waiting on several orders from the National Immunisation Program stockpile.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Maria Boulton says childhood vaccination schedules are crucial. (ABC News: Chris Gillette)<\/p>\n
The former Australian Medical Association Queensland president said they currently had shortages in vaccines for 18-month-olds and four-year-olds.<\/p>\n
Dr Boulton said she understood there could be shortages for two-month, four-month, six-month, and eight-month vaccines in the future.<\/p>\n
“We’re taking it week by week, we continue to put the orders in in the hope the vaccines will come,” Dr Boulton said.<\/p>\n
“We’re just asking parents to just give us a few days, and we’ll keep in touch with them.”<\/p>\n
Dr Boulton said her clinic currently still had enough supplies of vaccines for six-to-eight-week-olds, which was a critical stage for newborns.<\/p>\n
However, she said if those supplies dwindled it was important that parents keep their babies away from sources of contamination until they got their first vaccinations.<\/p>\n
Correspondence seen by 612 ABC shows doctors were told “worse case scenario” planning was being enacted to keep supplies on shelves.<\/p>\n
Don’t panic, government says<\/p>\n
A Queensland Health spokesperson said they were working with the Toll Healthcare distribution centre to ensure vaccines were still being delivered.<\/p>\n
The spokesperson said clinics should not be concerned about access to vaccine stock.<\/p>\n
“We acted immediately to ensure Toll guarantees ongoing access to vaccines following an incident at their storage facility,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
“This included supporting Toll as they established interim arrangements to avoid any disruption to vaccine supply.<\/p>\n
“Sufficient vaccine stock exists and are available through Toll’s interim arrangements.”<\/p>\n
Dr Boulton said there were also some shortages with the adult flu vaccine, particularly for the over 65s.<\/p>\n
She said there was currently an unseasonable flu peak going around, and elderly people who were unable to get the flu vaccine should exercise caution.<\/p>\n
“Try to avoid crowded spaces, particularly if you’re immunosuppressed or if you have any chronic illnesses that put you at higher risk of flu,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Make sure you are up to date and that you don’t miss that yearly flu vaccine.”<\/p>\n
She said there were also shortages for the meningococcal B vaccine and the rabies vaccine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brisbane parents are being turned away from GP clinics due to a shortage of childhood vaccines. Vaccine deliveries…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64,63,2690,651,137,223015,8920,223014,4886],"class_list":["post-424349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-medical-association","tag-brisbane","tag-health","tag-maria-boulton","tag-queensland-health","tag-richlands","tag-vaccine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}