Both 19, Mr Ireland and Ms Davies rolled up their sleeves at Piggott's Pharmacy on Monday after a GP gave them the go-ahead.

It comes as dozens of community pharmacies across the Hunter were added to the vaccination rollout, appearing in the vaccine eligibility checker online.

"I was booked in at the Belmont mass vaccination centre in late September to get Pfizer," Mr Ireland, who was eligible for the vaccine as a partial carer, said.

"Which is all well and good, but at this point - that's still seven weeks away, and we do have COVID in our community now."

Mr Ireland said his GP had advised that the chances of him having an adverse reaction to the vaccine was "quite literally" one in a million.

"That sealed the deal for me, and I booked in at Piggotts. Just a few hours later, I was vaccinated," he said.

"My girlfriend, Mia, came in with me and got vaccinated too.

"We'll be getting our second jab within the next 12 weeks. They have said anytime after four weeks is OK to have the second jab, given there is COVID floating around in the Hunter region right now.

"The greatest immunity is achieved after you wait 12 weeks, but because there is COVID in the community, the safer bet is to get it sooner rather than later.

"If in four weeks there isn't much happening here with cases and community transmission - I'll probably wait. But if it's something we have got to get on to, then I'll get it anytime after four weeks."

Mr Ireland said both he and Mia had felt like a weight had been lifted off their shoulders after receiving the vaccine.

They both spend a lot of time with older and vulnerable family members and friends.

"It was very important to me that I get protected, because while my grandmother has had two jabs of the AstraZeneca - she is quite vulnerable with a number of serious health issues," he said.

"I thought it would be in all of our best interests to get myself vaccinated.

"The same goes for my girlfriend. She has been keen right from the get go to get vaccinated - not just for herself, but for the vulnerable people around her as well.

"We could never have it on our conscience to spread COVID to them."

Mr Ireland said many people his age were casual workers who often felt the pressure to keep working to pay the bills.

"A lot of people still are feeling a bit pressured to go to work because they don't have anything to fall back on if they are not eligible, or are not receiving, the state government's disaster relief payments," he said.

"There is no Jobkeeper at the moment. And a lot of people my age are casual employees. If they don't work, they don't get paid."

Mr Ireland said he was not at all concerned about the very rare clotting disorder that had been associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

"COVID itself is far more likely to cause blood clotting than the vaccine, plus there are all the other complications that can come with getting COVID," he said.

"Getting the vaccine is just common sense.

"The vaccine has had very little impact on either of us. It was just like getting a flu shot.

"The people who disagree with getting these vaccines just can't be given fuel anymore, because the simple fact is we want to be able to go back to living a life where we're not stressing about COVID.

"We want to get back to a life where we're not impacted by the current restrictions in order to prevent COVID from spreading through the community."

The mass vaccination hub at Belmont has also begun offering the AstraZeneca vaccine - although authorities have explained that if you are searching for it in the eligibility checker via health.gov.au, it is listed as Newcastle Vaccination Centre.

Hunter New England Health has said previously cancelled Pfizer appointments at the hub have been mostly reinstated, with the centre "on track" to provide more than 10,000 Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccinations this week. More bookings for Pfizer would open as vaccine supply increases.

"Last week people who were booked between 2 August and 8 August 2021 received SMS notifications with priority codes to rebook. So far 63 per cent of those people have booked a new appointment," a spokesperson said.

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