Health bosses have voiced their anxiety about the system's ability to cope in regional areas as so-called "freedom days" approach.
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Intrastate travel is set to restart sometime in October in NSW, and in November in Victoria.
"I'm genuinely concerned that we are in a pandemic, and we will see excessive demand on our services," Ms Gillis said.
"The biggest threat for our service is unvaccinated people holidaying in our region; they get unwell, and our ability to serve that increase in demand will be challenging.
"We will see excessive demand on our service."
Oncologist Craig Underhill said the Border region should reach above 80 per cent double-dose before welcoming visitors.
MPs on the North Coast have written to the NSW Premier, asking for travel to be restricted there until high vaccination can be achieved.
"My personal view is our MPs and our mayors should advocate for a similar position for our region, so that we have time to get everyone vaccinated," Dr Underhill said.
"That's what the national roadmap talks about - every jurisdiction getting to that level before an opening-up.
"I know that people are looking forward to Christmas, but if we don't go slow and protect everybody, it won't be a happy Christmas for lots of people."
Dr Underhill said he personally was concerned for all regional hospitals and GPs.
"We all know that we have less capacity than metro, we rely on a constant stream of complex cases to metro that we can't look after," he said.
"If the metropolitan hospitals are overwhelmed, then that will have potentially catastrophic consequences for individuals ... and for non-COVID illness as well.
"It highlights the need for new health facilities in Albury-Wodonga ... we know regional health services are vulnerable."
Indi MP Helen Haines said Albury Wodonga Health's situation was "an acute one" and called on the Commonwealth to commit funding to a brand new hospital.
AWH confirmed yesterday its emergency department redevelopment was finally in motion with Premier Building and Construction beginning pre-build works last Friday.
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AWH chief executive Michael Kalimnios said current works would construct a new staff room between existing operating theatres and the ED.
"This room is a vital component of the upgrade and will allow AWH to accommodate increased staff numbers once the new Emergency Department is operational," he said.
"Construction of the new ED and renovation of the existing ED are due to begin early 2022 and are expected to take 12 months."
