30,000 extra appointments to get more Canberrans vaccinated faster

More than 30,000 additional appointments have been added over the next six weeks at the AIS Arena Mass Vaccination Clinic to get more Canberrans vaccinated sooner.

The extra bookings have been made available in the MyDHR booking system to match a boost in Pfizer vaccine supply.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said people with existing bookings would now be able to get vaccinated faster.

“The next eight weeks is a race to get as many Canberrans vaccinated as possible,” said the ACT Chief Minister.

“The additional supply of Pfizer in both ACT Government clinics and across the primary health network will help us achieve our goal of getting more than 85% of the ACT population over the age of 12 vaccinated.”

“Overall these new appointments are anticipated to speed up our program by about two weeks.”

For many people over 18 years old the fastest way to get vaccinated is still to talk to a health professional about getting the AstraZeneca vaccine.”

ACT Minister for Health Rachel Stephen-Smith said participating GPs and pharmacies in the ACT were also expected to receive increased Pfizer supply.

“People can use the Commonwealth’s eligibility checker to find participating GPs and pharmacies in the ACT,” Minister Stephen-Smith said.

“Being able to provide more vaccinations to Canberrans sooner is a great result.

“I encourage Canberrans to use the MyDHR portal to look for earlier appointments. While online is the fastest and easiest way to book an earlier appointment, this can also be done by phoning our vaccine booking line on (02) 5124 7700 between 7am and 7pm daily.

“I understand a lot of people will be keen to get an earlier appointment and this will likely create high demand on both our online and phone systems, so please be patient and respectful to our staff.

“People moving their vaccine bookings forward will have a domino effect as their previous booking becomes available and this should allow most people to be able to get an earlier booking, noting that this is likely to take several days to work through.”

We will continue to work with the Commonwealth Government and other healthcare providers to ensure we deliver a safe, effective and accessible COVID-19 vaccine program in the ACT.

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