COVID-19 vaccine clinics in NSW open for booking

More than 100 clinics have been added to a list of places elderly Australians and frontline workers will be able to get their jab.

Elderly Australians and frontline workers struggling to book their free COVID-19 vaccine will now be able to get their jab from one of more than 100 respiratory clinics run by the federal government.

It is hoped the extra clinics — including at least 36 in NSW — will boost the delay-plagued rollout after reports people were unable to lock in appointments with overwhelmed GPs taking part in Phase 1B of the scheme.

There will be clinics across Sydney, including in Bondi, Campbelltown, Fairfield and Lakemba, as well as in regional NSW areas like Wagga Wagga, Orange, Bathurst, Cobar, Moree and Broken Hill.

Each clinic will have between 80 and 2,000 doses to give out each week.

Australian Border Force Quarantine worker Alysha Eyre is seen receiving her second and final COVID-19 vaccination shot at the Castle Hill Medical Centre. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

Bookings at the Commonwealth clinics open from Friday with places filled on a first-come, first-served basis through the online system.

Potential recipients must complete the government’s eligibility checker at health.gov.au and if approved to get the jab, will then be directed to options for booking appointments.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said the clinics were a “very important addition” to the under strain system.

“General practices, some of them are much smaller and they will choose from within their own patients first and some will expand to others,” he said.

“But the Commonwealth vaccination clinics that are coming online today will take all patients.”

On the first day of the online booking system on Wednesday, there were about 7,000 people accessing the website every hour.

Public transport commuters are still wearing masks as an extra precaution in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

About 98 per cent of people who were deemed eligible were able to book an appointment on their first try, according to the government.

Australia was expected to surpass 240,000 vaccinations by Thursday, which is considerably short of the government’s original target of four million jabs in the first month.
That goal has been long abandoned due to global supply chain problems, with Mr Hunt urging Australians the rollout was a “marathon, not a sprint”.

Phase 1B, which includes Australians over the age of 70, all healthcare workers and frontline workers like police and defence, is due to start on Monday March 22.