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ABC News
ABC News
Health

COVID-19 vaccine rollout extends to teenagers in regional South Australia

SA regional residents aged 16 and above will soon be able to get COVID-19 vaccines. (Reuters)

From Tuesday, anyone over the age of 16 living in country South Australia will be able to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

Premier Steven Marshall said vaccinations will be made available at SA Health-operated sites in regional areas. 

Mr Marshall said regional residents aged 16 and above would be able to get the vaccine at 35 country clinics.

"We want as many people to get that jab," he said.

"It's really important that when people are eligible to go and have their jab, that's exactly and precisely what they do.

"We've worked very hard to increase our country capacity."

Some regional clinics may only offer the Pfizer vaccine – for people under 50 – and some may only offer AstraZeneca – for people over 50.

Premier Steven Marshall at the announcement about regional COVID–19 vaccines. (ABC News)

The SA government said vaccine appointments would be available through a booking system on the SA Health website.

"This is for people that live in those regional centres so you will need to show proof of your residency," Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier said.

"All the information will be up on our website. We're also going to be putting up some maps."

Mr Marshall said the move was a national first and would help to further ramp-up the vaccination rollout across the state.

The Premier later clarified that SA was in fact the first state in the nation to roll out to people 16 and over, with the practice already occurring in the Northern Territory.

The state's first vaccination hub, at the Adelaide Showground, opened at the end of April.

A clinic at Noarlunga will open on Tuesday, while one at Elizabeth is planned to open on May 31.

Some parts of the Adelaide Hills are included in the areas classified as regional.

Vaccines will be available for Kangaroo Island residents from next month.

New coronavirus case

Professor Spurrier also announced one new coronavirus case, in a man in his 30s in hotel quarantine.

The case is considered to be an old infection.

"That person is still considered a case and is added to our numbers because he had not been previously diagnosed  — so we have a total of 749 cases now in SA," she said.

"The good news is there is nobody in hospital in SA now with COVID."

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