Pharmacies in Orange have been told they could receive the new Moderna vaccine as early as Monday.
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The COVID-19 vaccine which is intended for children as young as 12 is being sent directly to community pharmacies around the country.
Pharmacist Frances Kinghorne of Hogan's Pharmacy said there was a limit of 300 Moderna vaccines per pharmacy.
Like Pfizer, Moderna vials needed to be used within six hours of having their seals broken. While AstraZeneca allowed for 48 hours.
"That means that we are going to have to manage the dosing really well because we don't want to waste any because it's so scarce," Ms Kinghorne said.
"So we'll have to try and be really conscious of that and try and make sure that we've got appointments to cover exactly a multiple of ten each day so that we don't waste any.
"Everyone's only allowed to order 300 doses and that's enough for only a couple of weeks. It's not that many because you've got to make sure that you keep enough aside for the second doses as well."
Like Pfizer, the recommended time between first and second Moderna doses is four weeks. It can be administered to anyone between the ages of 12 and 59.
Hogan's Pharmacy has been advised its Moderna shipment will arrive Thursday, September 23, and would open their booking system as soon as it did. They already had a waiting list of 60.
McCarthy's Pharmacy was similarly expecting 300 doses of Moderna to arrive next week sometime, however pharmacist Kyle Buckley added that past vaccine roll-outs had taught providers to prepare for a lot of wiggle room. It could arrive as early as today or as late as late September, he said.
"It was the same with AstraZeneca, they actually told us that we wouldn't get the AstraZeneca until the 28th of August, and I believe we received ours on Wednesday the 11th of August," he said.
"There is some discrepancies between the roll-out [because] there's about 5000 pharmacies in Australia so I can understand why."
According to the ABC, close to 1,800 community pharmacies across Australia will receive Moderna doses from Monday, with another 1,800 to receive Moderna doses after that.
The vaccines on their way to Orange are part of the one million Moderna doses which the federal government announced had been secured from Europe on September 12 after the vaccine was approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration in August.
The COVID-19 vaccine is already in use across much of the world.
Community members with questions or concerns about COVID-19, including testing and vaccination, should contact the National Coronavirus Helpline on 1800 020 080.
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