‘There’s been an absolute stampede so far’: Vaccine demand surges in SA as rollout expands to those over 16

South Australians under 40 are now able to book Pfizer jabs after the state’s coronavirus vaccination rollout expanded this morning — but some have reported lengthy waits to secure appointments amid surging traffic on the website.

Health authorities last week announced Pfizer vaccines would become available to people aged 16 to 39 from 9:00am on Monday at SA Health clinics.

The change in eligibility means those under 60 in South Australia are now able to get either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines at state clinics.

Access to the Pfizer jab had previously only been available to those aged 40 to 59, along with people in certain sectors such as healthcare and those with certain medical conditions.

SA Health said there had been a surge in online bookings since eligibility expanded, with 116,000 new appointments made between midnight and 11:00am — three times the previous record for one day.

“In fact, up to 11 o’clock this morning there were 83,000 appointments booked so far in South Australia and I expect that number has already very significantly increased since the last time I checked.

“This demonstrates to me that the people of South Australia want to roll up their sleeves and get that vaccination as soon as possible.”

Mr Marshall today foreshadowed a likely strengthening of border restrictions with the Northern Territory, where a snap three-day lockdown has been announced.

“There is going to be a directions meeting this afternoon with regards to the Northern Territory border, and it’s very likely that there could be some changes there,” he said.

Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier said the deepening coronavirus crisis in New South Wales and the deteriorating situation in Victoria strengthened the imperative to get vaccinated.

“It is a very, very serious situation for Australia which is really why one of things we were keen to do was open up our vaccination a little bit more,” Professor Spurrier told ABC Radio Adelaide.

“We really are in a different situation now. We’ve got the problem in New South Wales, but also in Victoria things aren’t looking good across that border as well.

“We’ve got a very limited time now. Earlier in the year we had the luxury of being able to say we will use this one for this age group and this one for that age group, but every South Australian really needs to get on and access the vaccine.”

Some eager vaccine-seekers have reported being able to book their jabs before the 9:00am opening time.

“It has already crashed apparently. I booked mine at 7:45am thankfully,” one Twitter user wrote.

Mr Marshall said he was “delighted” with how the website had “held up”.

“Of course, there were many, many people trying to get on at exactly the same time,” he said.

“My understanding is sometimes people had to refresh but they got straight on.”

Professor Spurrier said website inundation was not necessarily a bad outcome.

While some were able to swiftly secure an appointment, including one Twitter user who said it “just took minutes”, others said it had taken much longer and that they had to make repeated attempts to secure appointments.

“I just managed to book in for both doses at Wayville [vaccination hub], took about an hour,” one person said.

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No new COVID-19 cases were recorded in South Australia, with two existing cases still active.

Professor Spurrier said that SA’s testing rate had “unfortunately dropped”, with just over 3,000 tests conducted yesterday.

“Even if you have been vaccinated, if you have got any sort of respiratory symptoms … it’s so important that you get tested,” she said.

Health Minister Stephen Wade described today’s expansion of the vaccination scheme as a “milestone in the COVID vaccine rollout”.

“Today’s nation-leading move — the first state in the country to extend eligibility to [those] over the age of 16 — is an important part of keeping our state safe and strong,” he said.

The federal government yesterday announced Australia was receiving an extra 1 million Pfizer vaccine doses from Poland, with about 47,900 to go to South Australia.

Mr Marshall said 45 per cent of eligible South Australians had received at least one dose.

“We really do need to see the vaccination rates very significantly higher than where they are at the moment,” he said.

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