Pharmacist Manish Bagga of Newcastle's Bagga's Pharmacy says demand for AstraZeneca has peaked

But that level of demand appears to have peaked as it becomes clearer that some people are waiting on Pfizer or Moderna, proprietor and lead pharmacist Manish Bagga told the Newcastle Herald.

"Certain people are vaccine hesitant ... a proportion of the community are waiting for those vaccinations to come, people who are feeling more vulnerable."

Mr Bagga said he was expecting a supply of Moderna to arrive at his pharmacy within the next two weeks, but a spokesman for the National Pharmacy Guild said that while Moderna had been due to land at pharmacies at that time - per the Federal Government's original timeline - they were waiting on confirmation from the Federal Health Department.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced this week that a new "dose swap deal" with Singapore will see 500,000 more doses of Pfizer arrive this week, for distribution next week, on top of 4.5 million planned for September, one million Moderna doses, and millions of doses of AstaZeneca. The doses would be delivered on a per capita basis across the GP and state hub network, he said.

Singleton Mayor Sue Morley said all she was hearing from her community was frustration about not having a choice of a vaccine. "We were always told we would, but vaccination opportunities in Singleton are limited," she said. The Singleton Local Government area has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the Hunter region at 52.7 per cent with a first dose, and 25.4 per cent double-dosed, but it was not for want of trying, the mayor said.

"Last Saturday one of the doctors surgeries closed because people were just turning up because they didn't understand there was a booking system, and so they couldn't manage that as well as the bookings so they had to close. It was really unfortunate, and it just demonstrates the frustration levels out in the community. Every day we turn on the TV and it says get vaccinated ... and obviously people are still concerned about the AstraZeneca."

President of the NSW Pharmacy Guild, David Heffernan, said the last 20 per cent of the population which had not come forward for vaccination were the 'vaccine hesitant' and those that NSW Health had not been able to reach, and some were in priority groups which were less 'facilitated' by health, he said.

People in priority groups are also still among those waiting for access to mRNA vaccines - Pfizer and Moderna - people acting on advice from their GPs and health professionals, such as pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and people with certain underlying medical conditions. Many of them are still on multiple GPs waiting lists and/or cannot get an appointment at a vaccination hub for their first dose of Pfizer until November or December.

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