While that is still some time away, the availability of effective vaccines against COVID-19 fills me with great hope for the future.

In 2020, we banded together as a community to effectively suppress the virus by keeping our distance, washing our hands, staying home - particularly when ill - and getting tested whenever we experienced COVID-like symptoms.

Today, the vaccine rollout has given us the opportunity to do our part once again - to protect ourselves, our loved ones and the wider community.

The more people who get vaccinated, the better placed we will be to end this pandemic.

Over the past 13 years, I have been privileged to serve on the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation to the World Health Organization (WHO), most recently working on the COVID-19 vaccines working group.

While advising on a topic of such global importance has been a career highlight, it has been extremely humbling to see first-hand the commitment of medical research, clinical, laboratory, and public health colleagues from across the world, to ensuring effective and safe vaccines are available to everyone.

As with many vaccines and other medications and products, there will always be some people who experience adverse reactions, regardless of the rigorous testing.

Minor adverse reactions, including injection site pain and swelling, are common with the two COVID-19 vaccines currently available in Australia.

Mild flu-like symptoms that last for a day or two are also quite common.

The common side effects are in fact a positive sign - usually indicating that your immune system is responding to the vaccine and building immunity.

None of the vaccines that are currently provisionally approved or being reviewed for use in Australia contain a live virus, so you can rest assured that these symptoms do not mean you have COVID-19.

Some mild symptoms are far better than contracting COVID-19 and are a small price to pay to protect yourself and your loved ones. Rare adverse effects that affect less than one person in 100,000 doses will not normally be reliably detected in clinical trials that have tens of thousands of participants.

So it is essential that as vaccines continue to be rolled out, we carefully monitor and investigate any possible unexpected health events to detect any links with the vaccines.

As the vaccine rollout started, an expert panel was established by NSW Health to review any of these events and ensure public safety.

AusVaxSafety is conducting national COVID-19 vaccine safety surveillance with enrolled participants who have received a COVID-19 vaccine followed up by text message to ask about any adverse events.

Vaxtracker, which is providing this active surveillance in seven states and territories, including NSW, was developed by Hunter New England Health and the University of Newcastle as an important community participatory science initiative.

It is wonderful that by the beginning of this week more than 445,000 COVID-19 vaccinated Australians have provided responses about any symptoms experienced after vaccination using Vaxtracker.

As the vaccine rollout continues, I hope all of you, like me, will take up this important opportunity to help keep our loved ones and community safe.

In Hunter New England, the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines to frontline health staff and other eligible groups is very well advanced, with the John Hunter, Tamworth, Manning, Armidale, Moree and Muswellbrook hospital clinics well underway.

In a major coup for our district, we are also set to host the state's second mass vaccination centre in Lake Macquarie that is expected to open in mid-July, further boosting the vaccine rollout across the state and making it more convenient for everyone to get protected.

While 2020 was the year of COVID-19, 2021 is very much the year of the vaccine, and I encourage everyone to embrace the opportunity to get the jab when it's your turn.

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