Children as young as 12 have begun receiving their COVID-19 vaccinations in Castlemaine with the town’s local GP clinics now all stocking Pfizer as well as AstraZeneca vaccine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesperson for Castlemaine Health said their staff had begun giving jabs to 12-15-year-olds from last Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There is a huge demand for vaccination from this newly eligible cohort as well as the 16+ population who have really only been eligible for a short period too,” they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There are some additional logistical challenges with the 12-15 age group, simply because we need a little extra time to document consent and a parent or legal guardian must be present so density limits must be taken into account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We have added an extra day to our clinic to help cope with demand and respond to supply.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Castlemaine GP Dr Ronnie Moule said her Mostyn Street Medical Clinic also began administering the vaccine to youngsters in the 12-15 cohort for the first time last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We’ve done our first for youngsters in this age group starting with a 15-year-old and a 13-year-old,” Dr Moule confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“People can book in at any of the three GP clinics plus the hospital and all of our three GP clinics now have Pfizer as well as AstraZeneca.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Castlemaine Health’s vax clinic is focusing on getting as many first jabs into arms as possible.
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“Yes, this is the strategy in place,” a spokesperson confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Partial protection against COVID-19 may be as soon as 12 days after the first dose, but the second dose encourages stronger immunity against COVID-19.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“All Victorian state vaccination hubs are re-booking second jabs at six weeks to increase the number of people being vaccinated.
“Supply is allocated to the hubs by the Victorian Government once received from the Commonwealth.
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“Our COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic has opened up a fourth day each week to enable us to offer more bookings in response to steadily increasing supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Appointments are filling quickly as demand for vaccination is still so high, which is incredibly reassuring and testament to our community.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Children as young as 12 have begun receiving their COVID-19 vaccinations in Castlemaine with the town’s local GP clinics now…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":9080,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,15],"tags":[1165,3237,3238],"ppma_author":[5230],"class_list":["post-9079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-latest-news","tag-castlemaine-health","tag-covid-19-vaccinations","tag-mostyn-street-medical-clinic"],"yoast_head":"\n