Chair of the New England Division of General Practice, Dr Maree Puxty, said her practice, West Armidale Medical Centre, will have vaccinated 100 children by the end of the week.

"Most practices are getting 100-200 doses of Pfizer paediatric vaccine every two weeks," Dr Puxty said.

"But across the region, we are all noticing that the number of appointments for children seems to be dropping off.

"We need to encourage as many parents as possible to take their kids to be vaccinated because it's not just protecting the children, it's protecting the more vulnerable older people in the community."

So far, the Omicron variant of COVID-19 appears to be a young person's disease, Dr Puxty said, but that will change over time, and the same cannot be said for older family members.

"Even though young people, and particularly children, seem to be not terribly symptomatic, apart from a mild respiratory tract infection and possibly some diarrhea, elderly people will suffer vastly more," Dr Puxty said.

Read More:

And while parents may be understandably hesitant about vaccinating their precious children, health professionals say the alternative is a more significant risk. To date, there have been few, if any, serious side effects of the Pfizer children's COVID-19 vaccine.

"Yes, they might have a bit of a runny nose, and yes, they might have a bit of a sore arm," Dr Puxty said.

"But that is probably the most that's going to happen in comparison to some potentially very serious complications for children if they contract COVID, including the possibility of long COVID.

"It would appear from all of the evidence internationally that children cope with vaccines exceptionally well because they have very responsive immune systems. And they certainly seem to be coping with this vaccination as well.

"I would have to say that the Pfizer vaccine generally has been extremely well tolerated in the community."

Dr Puxty said she strongly encourages parents to get their children vaccinated and speak with a health care professional if they have concerns rather than relying on social media and word of mouth.

"We hope we can get up to 80 per cent of the 5 to 11-year-olds in our region vaccinated if possible, and that would be fabulous on top on top of the existing vaccination rates," she said.

"I would encourage people to not just accept the information they obtained from social media. If they have concerns and hesitancy about vaccinating their children, please talk to a general practice or the area health service.

"There are lots of resources out there for people to read that come from appropriately accredited sites, rather than social media and people's political views."

The University of New England conducted a walk-in clinic between 9am, and 4pm on Saturday, January 29 and Sunday, January 30 at SportUNE.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:

Follow us on Google News Showcase