The vaccination rates for 12 to 15-year-olds are tracking well for the New South Wales Hunter and Central Coast but there are hopes uptake will accelerate, according to the regions' Primary Health Network.
Multiple schools across the Hunter have temporarily closed due to COVID-19 outbreaks this week.
"That's a really good indicator of the need for this age group to be vaccinated," John Baillie said.
Mr Baillie is an executive manager at the Hunter New England and Central Coast Primary Health Network (PHN), which has access to figures from the Australian Immunisation Register.
He said the double-dose vaccination percentages for 12 to 15-year-olds range between the mid-30s to high-40s across the Hunter and Central Coast.
"It's worth noting that the better measure for 12 to 15-year-olds at the moment is actually the first dose," Mr Baillie said.
He said that was because the vaccine had only recently been made available to the cohort.
First dose rates across the Hunter and Central Coast range between 70 and 80 per cent.
"With this age group, there should be no issues with [vaccination] access."
Earlier this week, almost 78 per cent of the cohort across NSW had their first dose while more than 51 per cent were fully vaccinated.
Parents wanting younger children to get vaccinated
Sharryn Brownlee, spokesperson for Central Coast Council of P&Cs, said local students were doing their bit.
"Students and young people are very well informed, well educated, they know what the facts are and it's simply been the lack of availability of the vaccine or we would have even higher rates," she said.
Ms Brownlee said the association had been swamped with parents inquiring about access to vaccines for primary-school-aged children.
"In families with older and younger siblings, it's about the older ones who are vaccinated and they're feeling safe for them … but their little ones are not vaccinated yet," she said.
Local independent and Catholic schools have managed the return to school in their own way, in a bid to reduce the potential risk of COVID-19 cases.
Ms Brownlee said, while well-intentioned, it might have been a poor decision.
"To have a staggered return with different year groups coming to school on different days has seen some groups attend school just one day this week," Ms Brownlee said.
"What we're hearing from the children themselves, they found it incredibly frustrating to be left behind."
