Audrey Nimmo has been waiting for months to get her COVID vaccine.
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"It felt a bit stingy, but I feel really good that I got it now," the six-year-old said after receiving her first dose of the pediatric Pfizer vaccine at the BHS Community Vaccine Clinic on Tuesday.
She said she wanted the vaccination "so I can make sure my friends at school get to be safe and I'm safe as well".
Dad Stuart took Audrey to the Mercure for her vaccination, following in the footsteps of her elder siblings and parents who have all had the vaccine.
"We spoke to her a lot about it and she was all up for it," Mr Nimmo said.
"We just wanted to keep her safe. It was a big priority of rest of us ... we wanted her to be safe, to live life as normally as possible, get back to school a bit more and to do whatever we can."
Audrey is one of about 20,000 children aged five to 11 in the Grampians Health region now eligible to receive the first dose of the pediatric Pfizer vaccine.
With school resuming in less than three weeks, it's unlikely all who are eligible will receive their first dose of the vaccine before the first day of term.
But health officials are working with schools, particularly those with large numbers of vulnerable families, to get as many children vaccinated as possible.
BHS vaccine clinic operations manager Lisa Oro said they were working with Yuille Park P-8 Community College, Ballarat Specialist School and Delacombe Primary "as part of getting vulnerable communities protected: and talking to other principals across the region to see if their vulnerable community members and broader school needed help with accessing vaccinations.
"We will provide as much support as schools need," said Craig Wilding, executive director primary community care for Grampians Health Ballarat.
"We have been thinking about, with second doses, working with schools to see what that might look like."
Ms Oro said there was a target of administering around 7000 vaccinations a week across the whole region, for adults and children, through state services including public clinics in Ballarat, Ararat and Horsham.
Maryborough has a Commonwealth clinic providing vaccinations, and hundreds of GPs and pharmacies across the region are vaccinating thousands of people every day.
On its first day of operations the pediatric vaccine clinic at the Mercure saw about 250 children receive their first Pfizer dose, with eligible parents offered their booster at the same time.
The vaccination clinic at the Mercure has been overhauled, now operating six cubicles dedicated to families with waiting areas and cubicles decorated with Australian animal themed posters.
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"It's been a great success and we've had really positive feedback," Mr Wilding said.
Walk- in boosters for adults have been temporarily suspended to ensure a smooth start to the pediatric vaccination program, but booster appointments are still running with bookings available next week.
Mr Wilding said more bookings for childrens' vaccinations were likely to open as training of staff is completed.
"We will probably have the ability, based on staffing, there should be flexibility if required but we are meeting demand at the moment," he said.
The Victorian government has established a $4 million grants program to help GPs and community pharmacists set up mini-vaccination clinics at schools, and will roll out 30-pop up vaccination clinics at primary schools that will be open to all local children, not just pupils of the schools hosting the clinic, including one at Yuille Park P-8 Community College.
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