With a flood of new Pfizer and Astra Zeneca vaccinations now available for Northern Rivers residents, it will soon become clear whether limited availability or vaccine hesitancy has been the main reason for the region to have been lagging behind state COVID vaccination averages.
So far, more than 70 per cent of adults living in Northern NSW have had their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
The Northern NSW Local Health District says this is a great start, but is urging as many people as possible to protect themselves, their loved ones and the broader community with one of the free vaccines.
New appointments available
NNLHD is advising that there are bookings available across the entire Northern Rivers.
The Tweed COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic has immediate appointments available for Pfizer and Astra Zeneca in coming days. In Grafton, the COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic has appointments available for Pfizer in coming weeks.
New appointments are available at NNLHD Tweed, Lismore, and Grafton COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics for AstraZeneca.
NNSWLHD says it’s easy to find your nearest available appointment by using the COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Finder. This tool allows you to search by location or ‘next available booking’.
COVID-19 Vaccination Program Coordinator for NNSWLHD, Matt Long, said it’s great to see the community responding well to the increased vaccination opportunities, and that it remains important to keep the momentum up.
‘In addition to our Northern NSW LHD operated clinics, far more GPs have started offering Pfizer through September, and local Pharmacies will soon start offering the Moderna vaccine, to make accessing vaccination as easy as possible in Northern NSW,’ said Mr Long.
‘We want to keep up the strong vaccination momentum that we have seen recently, with first dose vaccination rates rising by 14 to 20 percentage points across our footprint since late August.’
Those aged 12 years and above are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccination. You can book via the COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Finder. If you need assistance to book, you can call Health Direct on 1800 57 11 55.
