A Coffs Harbour principal is pushing to have a COVID-19 vaccine clinic at his school before term 1 begins.
Children aged five to 11 were made eligible for immunisation this week but there are concerns about supplying students in time with three weeks left until a return to classrooms.
The principal of Bishop Druitt College, Nick Johnstone, said discussions with NSW Health were progressing positively.
"It looks as though it's well and truly a possibility that we'll have something up in play before school goes back, which would be fantastic if we can," he said.
Bishop Druitt College is an Anglican K-12 school — of roughly 1,100 students, 500 of whom are in the vaccination age bracket.
Mr Johnstone said he understood the hub might resemble those used at many Sydney schools during the rollout of the vaccine to 12 to 17-year-olds.
He said it would be hard to manage COVID disruptions without some sort of vaccination program for primary school students.
"I think it's probably the only way we can have a positive way forward for our kids in schools," he said.
Mr Johnstone said the school had also purchased filtration devices and implemented several COVID-safe classroom plans.
He said he was confident that after most high school students received two vaccine doses, parents of younger children would do the same.
"I'm expecting that 80 per cent of our secondary school kids will be vaccinated already, and people will be starting to take the action of vaccinating their primary-aged children."
Communication struggles
Mr Johnstone said it was proving difficult to realise his hopes for a hub with the Omicron variant placing NSW Health and the Department of Education under extreme pressure.
"Their ballpark is changing so quickly. I don't think the officials can really predict a month in advance — I think they're struggling to predict a week in advance at the moment," he said.
Schools, authorities to adapt on the run
The Department of Education said in a statement that it continued to work with NSW Health to promote the uptake of vaccinations for all students.
It said it would continue to make school facilities available for community vaccinations and work with local health districts as required to support the vaccination effort.
The department clarified it did not decide which schools established onsite vaccination hubs. Rather, individual schools liaised with local health districts and NSW Health.
