SEVEN-year-old Tobias Streeg was one of the first kids to roll up his sleeve as COVID-19 vaccinations for children aged five to 11 began in Bendigo today.
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More than 3500 children aged have booked in to Bendigo's state-run vaccination clinic for a COVID-19 jab, something Bendigo Health chair Bob Cameron had anticipated.
"A lot of parents have been waiting for today," he said.
"In a place like the City of Greater Bendigo, there's something like 6000 kids aged between five and 11.
"We 3500 booked into this clinic already between now and the end of January. There has been hot demand and people will have to get in the queue and take his time."
"Parents understand the importance of childhood vaccinations," he said.
"No doubt the 'no jab, no play' (philosophy) has been a part of that.
"In Bendigo vaccination is part of our culture. We have very high child vaccination rates - over 96 per cent - but when comes to COVID we have 98 per cent of Bendigo and central Victorian residents that are double jabbed
"It is a good culture of vaccination and puts us in a good position. To think what it would be like if only half of us were vaccinated - a lot of people would be under stress and the health system would be appalling and it would collapse."
Bendigo Health acting chief executive David Rosaia getting children vaccinated and COIVD-19 vaccine boosters into adults was important.
"We strongly encourage everyone to get vaccinated and get their boosters," he said.
"At this point we have less admissions to hospitals considering the case numbers, so we do encourage everyone to get vaccinated."
Mr Cameron said Bendigo Health is currently caring for 20 COVID-affected patients including two school-aged children.
"Kids often get milder cases when they get COVID but not all of them," he said.
"We have two school-aged kids in Bendigo Health at the moment.
"We have 20 COVID patients and two are kids. That makes you realise vaccination is the thing to do to be able to get on with life and continue to be open."
The vaccination for children aged five to 11 years is a third of the dose adults get. Children will have to wait eight weeks between their first and second doses.
Mr Cameron said Bendigo Health has enough vaccine supply for January and is expecting more doses soon.
"We are waiting for more but expect that matter to be sorted before (the end of January)," he said. "It is in huge demand in Australian at present.
"Last year when the federal government said we would have a rollout, there were some issues. State hubs were expected to do a quarter (of vaccinations) when in actual fact we did well over half in Victoria and in Bendigo.
"It is expected we would be doing around half or even more (of children aged five to 11). People can also go to GPs and pharmacies that do shots and we encourage that."
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