Recommendation for the AstraZeneca jab are now that these only be given to people aged 60-plus, despite a hold on initial Pfizer jab bookings in Victoria while there is a vaccine shortage.

Ballarat Health Services will no longer take walk-in bookings for either vaccine, posting changed details for the mass vaccination centre online last night.

The BHS-run jab centre, based at The Mercure Hotel on Main Road, is the only site in Ballarat able to offer the public Pfizer vaccines.

Anyone aged 50 to 59 who was booked in for their first AstraZeneca vaccine will be offered Pfizer instead should they keep their appointment as planned. Those who received their first AstraZeneca without serious side effects can receive their second AstraZeneca dose, according to BHS.

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The UFS vaccination clinic in Drummond Street only offers the AstraZeneca vaccine and has been working to notify those booked in who will be affected by the changes following the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation revisions. More details here.

The likely change in advice will put further pressure on Australia's supply of Pfizer vaccines, the only other vaccine against COVID-19 currently approved and available in Australia. Pfizer must be imported from overseas, and while supply is expected to increase starting next month, large amounts of the vaccine are not expected until at least September.

This comes as COVID test numbers in Ballarat have dipped in line with the state this past week.

UFS, which operates the city's primary free testing site, confirmed the overall drop on Thursday while Victoria's health department figures show a statewide revival to 25,000 tests after recording 17,000 on Wednesday.

A UFS spokesperson said there were "very low levels" of influenza circulating Ballarat as COVID restrictions continued to ease in the wake of last month's snap lockdown. But UFS continued to warn complacency could be dangerous and urged Ballarat residents to ensure they had their annual flu vaccine.

"As we know, the flu can be very dangerous to vulnerable populations and there are versions of influenza from time to time that are not far behind COVID in terms of morbidity and mortality," the UFS spokesperson said.

There have been five influenza cases in City of Ballarat this year, a stark contrast to 46 cases the same time last year and 310 for the same period in 2019.

Anyone with the slightest cold, flu or hayfever-like symtoms are urged to book a COVID-19 test. There remain 54 active COVID-19 cases in Victoria, as of Thursday evening.

Face masks must be work at all times indoors in regional Victoria, excepting in your own home, and when physical distancing is not possible outdoors.

The Victorian government launched a campaign on Thursday calling on Victorians to check-in with QR codes everywhere and every time they enter a workplace or business - even for less than 15 minutes. Checking in via the Services Victoria app is designed to best aid contact tracers in addressing outbreaks and restrictions. Ballarat has been listed as a target hot-spot for the campaign.

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