Spokesman for the Southern Highlands Division of General Practice Dr Vince Roche has confirmed that vaccination will begin in the shire in the week beginning March 22.

He said that at this stage, it was not known what day of this week the vaccines would be delivered to practices.

Dr Roche said that over the next couple of weeks, practices would advise patients how and when they could book for vaccinations, as well as when they would take place.

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"Most, but not all practices, will be GP vaccination centres. Practices that are not vaccinating will tell their patients where they can go to GP vaccination centres to get their vaccinations," he said.

Dr Roche confirmed that all Covid vaccinations would be bulk billed and as such the vaccinations were free.

He added that current advice was that people should not have a flu vaccination for two weeks either side of the Covid vaccine.

"We are still not sure when flu vaccines will be distributed to General Practices but it is likely to be in the next 4-6 weeks. Flu vaccination is a critical part of our Covid avoidance strategy," he said.

The first group of people eligible for the vaccine, under Category 1a, will receive the Pfizer vaccine. This includes front line health workers, aged care residents, aged care staff and hotel quarantine workers.

Dr Roche said front line workers at Bowral Hospital were gradually being vaccinated at Liverpool Hospital.

He said Wingecarribee aged care facilities and their staff had not yet been informed when the vaccine would be coming to their nursing homes or staff.

"The Nursing Home roll out is estimated to also take several months," he said.

Meanwhile, those under Category 1b will receive the Astra Zeneca vaccination to be rolled out from March 22.

Dr Roche said that both vaccines had proved to be very similar in effectiveness.

Category 1b includes elderly adults aged 80 years or over, elderly adults aged 70-79, health care workers, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander adults, adults with specified medical conditions, adults with a disability who have an underlying specified medical condition and critical and high risk workers including defence, police, fire, emergency services and meat processing.

People classed as having an underlying medical condition will need to provide proof of these conditions to demonstrate eligibility for priority vaccination. This can be done via My Health Record, a health professional referral or a declaration form.

Dr Roche said it could take several months to vaccinate all people in the Category 1b category, let alone the rest of the population, who will not receive vaccinations until all the Category 1b population have received their two doses.

"We ask everyone to be patient, and remain pleasant to staff at the General Practices," he said.

"In the meantime, we all need to remain sensible and cautious.

"Further outbreaks are likely to occur in coming months - until most of the population is vaccinated. Any symptoms - get tested!"

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