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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
National
Damon Cronshaw

Second jabs cancelled in Hunter in NSW Health bungle

Cancelled: Teacher Michelle Masters had her second Pfizer shot cancelled at the Belmont hub. Now she has no idea when she'll get a second shot. Picture: Jonathan Carroll

Kilaben Bay's Michelle Masters had her second Pfizer shot at the Belmont vaccination hub cancelled, despite NSW Health saying this would not happen.

Ms Masters, a preschool teacher, has no idea when she'll get a second shot.

She's now worried about not getting a second jab within the time frame considered to provide the best protection against COVID-19.

"Is it going to be effective, or do I need to do the first one all over again? Where do I stand now?" she said.

She had her first Pfizer vaccine on July 26.

"I was booked in to have my second one on August 23," she said.

"I got a text message on Saturday saying mine was cancelled due to the need to send the jabs to the HSC students in Sydney."

She also received a text message saying she would "get a priority code in the next few days to rebook".

"You read all the facts from NSW Health and they say if you've already had one vaccine, your second one won't get cancelled. And if you're in the teacher priority group, you won't get cancelled.

"To get mine cancelled when they said they wouldn't, I'm annoyed. I'm in the over 40s, I'm eligible, yet my vaccines have been taken away."

She didn't think it was fair that Hunter vaccines would be used by Sydney students.

"I have a year 11 student who isn't allowed to get a vaccine," she said.

"If the people did the right thing in Sydney, they wouldn't need our vaccines. So why should we be disadvantaged when we're doing the right thing?" she said.

Her husband Jason had his first shot cancelled at the Belmont hub.

"He was due to get his first one on Monday," she said.

Merewether's Cathy Olds booked her vaccination at the end of May, with her first shot scheduled for August 16.

Ms Olds, 55, is anxious to be vaccinated. As a type 2 diabetic, she's at a higher risk of becoming seriously ill if she contracts COVID-19.

"It's quite obvious there's still people from Sydney coming into Newcastle. My concern is, if it gets loose in Newcastle," Ms Olds said.

"If it comes to Newcastle, it'll go to every suburb."

Now she faces the "anxiety of not being able to rebook".

"And if I go to a GP, what is the waiting time going to be there because everyone will be in the same boat?"

Hunter New England Health posted an email address and number on social media for people like Ms Olds, whose bookings were "unintentionally rescheduled".

She was concerned that she would not get her bookings back.

"It's still up in the air because you don't know what they'll do, when you do rebook it," she said.

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