THE COVID-19 vaccine only arrived in Tamworth one week ago, but appointments have already been snapped up weeks in advance as practices cope with the local uptake.
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Northwest Health has upped bookings at its Calala vaccination clinic to five-minute, back to back appointments on certain days, in an effort to eventually scale up the jab program to 200 people per day.
The team already has scheduled bookings well into April, and immunisation nurse Isobel Vivers said it was a "positive" sign.
"There are lots of people interested ... a huge amout of people and it's really exciting," she told the Leader.
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The Northwest Health centre kicked off last week with a designated dosage of between 400 and 500 vaccines per week, but Ms Vivers said the clinic was hoping to secure more doses and vaccinate on more days as the immunisaiton rollout ramps up.
"We are going to scale it up at some stage ... with the likelihood of it being in the near future because there are a lot of people," she said.
"The staff are wonderful, it's a very good team and we work together to get everyone through."
It's a similar story at other practices, that were the first in Tamworth to receive vials of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Peel Health Care executive officer Melissa Hayes said vaccination appointments had been booked up until late April.
"It's been a good uptake ... we didn't really know what to expect," she said.
Peel Health Care is vaccinating their own eligible patients first, whereas Northwest Health is accepting bookings from anyone in Phase 1b.
The Belmore Surgery GP Dr Chris Fay said the practice had been vaccinating about 80 people in half a day.
"There are still sporadic outbreaks and it is important to get vulnerable people and healthcare workers vaccinated," he said.
My GP Tamworth and Windmill Practice are also vaccinating locals, and more surgeries are expected to be added to the list in the coming weeks.
Booking information can be found online, or by talking to your GP.
Private practices are in the process of immunising Phase 1b people, and eligibility can be checked online.
Hunter New England Health is set to launch the "satellite site" COVID-19 vaccination centre at Tamworth hospital this week, but it's only for healthcare workers.
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