In 2021 it was vaccines GPs couldn't get their hands on. This year it's time that will instead elude doctors and nurses across the Southern Tablelands.
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Monday, January 10 will mark the start of Australia's Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine rollout for children aged five to eleven.
Clinics throughout Goulburn and surrounds have urged patients to book ahead for both children's shots and adult boosters but to not be dismayed if there is a waiting period.
Marima Medical Clinic practice manager Laura Craig said they were already at capacity and would be under pressure to ensure they administered enough jabs each day.
"They [vaccines] have just arrived," she told the Goulburn Post.
"The most amount of doses any clinic can receive at a time is 200 and from there we can order that amount fortnightly.
"We are fully booked out for the next fortnight. It's very hard because we are doing COVID boosters as well so the nurses' time is already filled up with that. We are booking into March for adult boosters.
"We are trying to find the time to fit the children in, they take longer to vaccinate because they are scared of needles."
Ms Craig said the clinic was hoping to get through as many children as possible before school returned in February but warned that parents would need to be flexible with second dose appointments.
"The waiting period for children is eight weeks which means they're back at school which creates its own issues," she explained.
"We don't have nurses working on weekends and quite frankly, they are doing enough as it is. Unfortunately people are going to have to bring kids out of school when it's time for their second doses but we'll deal with that when it comes around."
Time and staff constraints were already having an effect on clinics such as Marima, a situation not helped by constantly changing rules and restrictions from the federal government.
"We closed on public holidays and that was it," she said.
"Our doctors are doing extra hours and with the government telling people who have a positive RAT result to see their doctor, we don't really want that because we can't have COVID positive people infecting our doctors.
"They are seeing patients during the day and spending their afternoons and lunch breaks calling patients that we know are positive and checking in on them."
It is a similar situation at Goulburn Medical Clinic with the next two weeks fully booked for children's vaccines.
A spokesperson urged patients to continue booking and was confident the clinic would quickly fall into a smooth routine with vaccines set to be delivered once a fortnight in line with regulations.
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