Retail Giants Offer Malls as Covid-19 Vaccine Hubs

Scentre Group chief executive Peter Allen wants vaccines to be administered in shopping centres as reoccurring lockdowns drag down the retail sector.

Allen, who is also the chair of the Shopping Centre Council of Australia, reiterated the council's standing offer to support the vaccine rollout it made earlier this year.

Retail trade suffered in Victoria during the lockdown in May, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and shutdowns in other states are expected to impact next month’s data.

So far more than 8.7 million vaccine doses have been administered, with 30 per cent of adults receiving their first dose.

However, this was a fair way from the yet-to-be determined thresholds required to move the country out of regular lockdowns for phase B of a four-phase national Covid-19 response.

Allen said they were willing to assist the government with the vaccination rollout across the country.

“Shopping centres provide safe and convenient locations for the community, with approximately nine out of 10 people living within a 20km radius of an SCCA-owned shopping centre, and more than 70 per cent of the population within 5kms,” Allen said.

“As retail is Australia’s largest private sector employer, shopping centres are also substantial employment hubs and could provide a safe vaccination location for retail and other workers at each centre.”

Despite the effects of lockdown on the sector, the outlook for Australian retail real estate investment trusts was stabilising, according to S&P Global.

The revised outlook rated the majority of REITS as stable “reflecting their ability to weather the Covid-19 pandemic and maintain a buffer to absorb further disruptions” according to the report.

However, disruptions to trade were likely to continue, with the long-term easing of restrictions only available in phase B of the national pandemic response, and lockdown elimination outlined in phase C.

The National Cabinet’s task force was conducting scientific modelling to identify the trigger points for stage B, which at this point is expected to exceed 60 per cent of adults being fully vaccinated.