Armidale's first walk-in vaccination centre was announced this week, and residents will be able to arrive without a booking to get the AstraZeneca COVID-19 jab.

Also this week Armidale pharmacies received their first delivery of AstraZeneca, and both MountView Pharmacy and Terry White Chemist have started administering the vaccine, with most others making bookings for future deliveries.

All medical practices in Armidale are also offering the AstraZeneca vaccine.

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Dr Maree Puxty has been a GP since 1993 and is the chair of the New England Division of General Practice, chair of the Hunter New England Central Coast Primary Health Network Rural Clinical Council, one of the practice owners of West Armidale Medical Centre, and a senior lecturer in rural health for the University of New England School of Rural Medicine.

She estimates only about 25 per cent of the Armidale community aged over 18 has had both their COVID-19 vaccination shots.

"This is nowhere near enough, and I don't think anybody is really happy with the current levels of vaccination in the community," Dr Puxty said.

"We are strongly encouraging people to become vaccinated."

Dr Puxty acknowledges there has been substantial hesitancy towards the AstraZeneca vaccine but said the statistics show there was no need for this.

"I think AstraZeneca is proving to be an extremely effective vaccine with very minimal side effects and is an extremely safe vaccine," she said.

"I think the more people, and the more quickly people are vaccinated, then the better off the whole community will be, particularly the more vulnerable members of our community."

People should take a more altruistic approach to getting vaccinated, Dr Puxty thinks.

"I hope people will become vaccinated not necessarily because of their own personal circumstances but to protect family, friends, and the vulnerable members of society," she said.

Inadequate information around AstraZeneca at the beginning of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign was to blame for the negative attitude towards AstraZeneca, Dr Puxty said, but she stressed the main reason for the restrictions around who could receive it initially was because of a lack of supply.

"When AstraZeneca was first distributed it was not manufactured in Australia, and there was a very clear recommendation of who should receive it," she said.

"Now it is being made in Melbourne, we can vaccinate anyone aged over 18 who wants the vaccine.

"I would encourage people to seriously consider having the AstraZeneca vaccine if they're under the age of 60 because it really is an extremely safe vaccine."

Dr Puxty said the 'very rare' side effect of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) involves blood clots (thrombosis) and low levels of blood platelets (thrombocytopenia) - basically clotting and bleeding at the same time.

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"It occurs probably less than once in 100,000 vaccinations, and the mortality from TTS is probably less than one in a million," she said.

"No vaccine is perfect, the Pfizer vaccine is not perfect and has rare side effects, but we now know how to treat that rare AstraZeneca vaccine side effect."

Dr Puxty said all people administering COVID-19 vaccinations had to undergo thorough training, and all local doctors can identify and treat TTS.

TTS usually occurs somewhere between four days and three weeks following vaccination in people aged under 60. The signs to look out for are severe headache, severe abdominal pain, and the unilateral swelling of a leg.

"People can present with these symptoms for other reasons, so you have to link it back to the vaccination," Dr Puxty said.

"We now know how to assess that with a simple blood test, and we know quite clearly how to treat it - it is very treatable and easy to diagnose.

"I've had AstraZeneca, and I believe it is a fantastic vaccine."

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