Demand for COVID-19 vaccines is exceeding supply as Albury-Wodonga medical clinics progress their phase 1b program.
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Sarkon Medical Centre received its first allocation of the AstraZeneca vaccine last week and inoculated its first patient on Tuesday.
Director Niranjan Sarjapuram said staff could treble their AstraZeneca inoculation with the amount of interest from older patients, but were limited by supply.
The Dean Street clinic is offering jabs for the flu in the morning and for COVID-19 in the afternoon, with a two-week interval between the two types of jabs needed.
"There's an allocation of 50 doses (of AstraZeneca) every week, so each fortnight we get 10 vials which is 100 doses," Dr Sarjapuram said.
"We were told that might increase in the coming weeks, but we don't know."
Each GP is linked into a Department of Health online portal for logistics around the vaccination process, which includes returning the boxes vaccines are stored in.
Elmwood Medical Centre in Wodonga is receiving a similar amount of AstraZeneca doses to Sarkon with the hope of increasing supply.
Director Gaurav Grover said 50 doses a week was much less than the 400 Elmwood submitted a tender for in the expression of interest process.
"Once production starts to increase here, it will be better for all of us," he said.
"We got our first batch last week ... we'll be starting Monday.
"We are contacting our vulnerable patients and booking them in, that's how we'll make the biggest impact.
"We are also running flu clinics."
There are 20 GP clinics with approval to deliver phase 1b across Albury, Wodonga and a handful of outlying towns.
The Department of Health's online portal indicates varying availability at each site.
Tallangatta Health Service chief executive Denise Parry said their medical centre was guaranteed 50 doses a week, and supplies additional to that were variable.
"We've run two vaccine clinics so far; our last one was Thursday," she said.
"We're following the guidelines put out by Commonwealth and state; we're only administering AstraZeneca at the moment and only to those aged over 50."
Sarkon GP Priya Kondappan said advice that Pfizer should be used for people aged under 50 due to a rare side effect of blood clotting had not deterred interest.
"We have had walk-ins and patients coming in for their regular consultation have also been enquiring about it," she said.
"At the moment, we are not taking any bookings for under 50 because we still don't have definitive reassurance from the Department of Health about AstraZeneca.
"But where the benefits outweigh the risks, I have been encouraging my patients, even under 50, to book in while they can."
Yackandandah's Trish Stanton, 76, received her first AstraZeneca jab on Thursday.
"I think prevention is the best option and it's important for everyone to be aware of what's offered," she said.
"If we don't go with it, it (the virus) will still be here."
Dr Kondappan said the COVID-19 vaccination program was challenging as all 10 doses in each vial had to be drawn up and delivered; an emergency list of clients was being kept in the case of a cancellation, to ensure no doses would be wasted.
"Our strategy is to wait for the vaccines to come through and then take bookings," she said.
"I anticipate the roll-out will go until the end of the year, because there has been a substantial delay of 1b.
"We should be able to achieve a good rate by the end of the year."
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The TGA has recently advised longer-term storage for Pfizer is still needed at ultra-cold temperatures, but unopened vials can be kept at usual freezer temperatures.
Dr Kondappan said while awaiting further information, Albury Wodonga Health, which has the ultra-cold freezer, could work with GPs to make Pfizer more available.
"That is possible, but it needs a lot of coordination among the local hospital and GP practices," she said.
"We've got to be prepared for rapid changes."