A GP clinic in the NSW Hunter region is struggling to get enough vaccine doses, despite assurances by the head of the government's COVID-19 Taskforce that supply is not a problem.
With more people eligible for booster shots and children over 5 able to get the jab from Monday, January 10, medical centres across the Hunter region are being inundated with requests for bookings.
Anna Davidson, director of the GP Super Clinic at Nelson Bay, said she was shocked when Lieutenant General John Frewen recently said there weren't any issues with vaccine supply.
"I listened to General Frewen and he said, 'We can order what we like', but the truth is we actually can't," she said.
"We got allocated 50 vaccines a week, we have the capacity to easily do 500 a day.
Ms Davidson was not convinced there was a distribution issue either.
"Why is it any harder to deliver [to] me 1,000 vaccines than it is 100?
"Have you seen the size of those vials? They're tiny. The package would be no different in size.
"I have no understanding how distribution is an issue if they have supply, it literally makes no sense.
The Department of Health said allocating medical centres 100 or 200 doses per fortnight ensured access to vaccines was equitable on a per capita basis.
Two more COVID deaths
The vaccine problems come as the Hunter New England region continues to see thousands of new COVID-19 cases each day and there have been two more local deaths due to COVID-19.
In the latest reporting period, the Hunter New England had 2,430 new cases of the virus, down from 3,424 the previous day.Two people have died in the local region.
A man in his 80s from the Lake Macquarie area died at Wyong Hospital.
He had not received any COVID-19 vaccinations and had underlying health conditions.
A man in his 70s from the Port Stephens area died at Newcastle's John Hunter Hospital.
He had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and had underlying health conditions.
