The city's GP practices have received a multitude of phone calls from patients expressing their frustration in the lead-up to the launch of phase 1b on Monday, March 22.

Dr Chua, who is also Rural Clinical Lead for NSW Health's COVID-19 Primary Care Community of Practice, is telling residents they will get their turn.

"We are most fortunate in where we are located in that we don't have any community transmission of COVID," she said.

"Don't panic, we will get to everyone but it just won't be all in a week."

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Dr Chua and the Western NSW Primary Health Network (WNSW PHN) have explained why the rollout of 1b will be a marathon and not a sprint.

They tell of the gradual and four-week introduction to 1b of 56 GP practices in the region.

The 13 practices able to offer the jab in week one include Dubbo Family Doctors.

Dr Chua and the PHN have also confirmed limited supplies of imported AstraZeneca will not be remedied until Melbourne-based CSL Limited begins manufacturing "significant volumes" of the vaccine, probably from the end of March.

Dr Chua said in the interim Australian GPs would be "scratching the surface" of the six million people eligible for the jab under 1b.

"Each of our vaccination sites in Dubbo have only been allocated a small quantity of vaccines each week," she said. "In the order of 50 to 100."

The PHN is asking residents to be "patient" and encouraging them to contact their "usual" doctors to learn if they are going to be part of the rollout and what to do if they are not.

Dr Chua says more than 410 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have now been administered across 132 countries, and the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines have proven to be "safe and effective".

The 1b phase covers people aged 70 years and over: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 55 years and over; healthcare workers not vaccinated during phase 1a; people aged 18 years and over with specified underlying medical conditions, and critical and high-risk workers.

An vaccine eligibility checker can be found at australia.gov.au .

The first two phases of the rollout, 1a and 1b, start in Dubbo on Monday.

Frontline healthcare workers are among the people eligible to be vaccinated under 1a.

Dubbo Hospital will operate a vaccination clinic from its Macquarie Building from Monday morning.

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