A thousand more COVID-19 vaccines in south-west Victorian arms this week

In the past seven days to Wednesday at Warrnambool's vaccination hub there were 3298 vaccines administered - 1711 AstraZeneca and 1587 Pfizer.

It marks a jump of almost 30 per cent on the week before when 2537 vaccines were administered - 1417 AstraZeneca and 1120 Pfizer.

Those figures don't include vaccines at GPs across the region.

South-west residents reported heavy delays this week after the Pfizer vaccine opened to over 16s, with some travelling from as far as Portland and Horsham to secure an appointment.

Scores more were able to break through the congested system.

South West Healthcare chief executive Craig Fraser admitted appointments were being snapped up "within 10 minutes" and encouraged the community to keep trying the vaccine website to book.

"We understand there's huge, huge demand on those appointments but hopefully we can get more vaccines and meet that demand as we go forward," he said.

"Please don't give up, stick at it, and we will keep trying to meet the need.

"It's pretty clear we don't have the supply to meet the demand, which is a good thing, it means people want to be vaccinated."

There is no longer a waitlist for Pfizer, with all bookings to be made through the Victorian government's centralised state clinic system.

Those who were on the waitlist should receive a text message from SWH alerting them to move to the new system, Mr Fraser said.

The hospital chief hoped next week its Pfizer doses would increase again from its usual allocation of 500 jabs.

"Our regular supply of 500 will continue but obviously we're advocating and strongly supporting both Barwon Health and the state government to give us more," he said.

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Pfizer appointments are booked out up to two weeks in advance, but new appointments will be opened up depending on supply.

"If we get informed today that we're going to get more tomorrow we open those appointments up straight away so that we can get it out as soon as we can, and more people can get it sooner rather than later," Mr Fraser said.

AstraZeneca is abundant in supply at the Warrnambool clinic.

"It's available, please jump online and book an appointment," he said.

Year 12 students across the south-west are expected to get priority for Pfizer doses at the Warrnambool vaccination clinic as final exams loom.

So far 32,973 people have received a COVID-19 vaccination through SWH's clinic.

It comes as Warrnambool slipped from first to third in the state for vaccine take-up this week.

More than 60.8 per cent of the region has received at least a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, falling slightly behind Geelong (61.4 per cent) and Bendigo (61.1 per cent).

With the growing coronavirus outbreak in regional Victoria, including Shepparton and Geelong and more than 800 exposure sites including Torquay, the Warrnambool Base Hospital has stepped up its COVID-safe measures.

These include increasing protections through the emergency department, more personal protective equipment for staff and testing of up to 150 patients a day for COVID-19.

Around 1000 people with coronavirus symptoms were tested in Warrnambool in the past week, around 150 a day.

"If Delta comes into our region we'll reinforce and do even more at that point as we move forward," Mr Fraser said.

"We know that once it starts to move it moves very quickly and we want to stop that."

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