Private aged care residents will be the first in Wagga to be vaccinated, with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine being delivered into six Wagga facilities from Tuesday.
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The federal government has partnered with Healthcare Australia to vaccinate aged care populations, with all residents within the six facilities expected to be offered the first of two shots by the end of the week.
Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network COVID-19 pandemic lead Alison Koschel said it was an exciting time for the facilities.
Ms Koschel said the vaccine would not be mandatory, and facilities would be checking with the residents or their guardians to make sure they have been fully informed about the vaccine and have given consent.
"I am relatively confident there will be a high take-up but again, it is people's choice," she said.
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She encouraged anyone with concerns about the vaccine for themselves or loved ones to schedule an appointment with their regular general practitioner to ask the questions they need.
Forrest Centre chief executive officer Evan Robertson, who runs the Mary Potter Nursing Home and Loreto Home of Compassion, said staff were "ecstatic" to see their residents vaccinated so quickly.
"Our staff have been very concerned, they know our residents are a very vulnerable part of the community, they obviously have the wellbeing of our residents at heart," Mr Robertson said.
"I guess it's the first step to getting some normality back into the way we look after residents in the nursing homes."
About 140 residents across the two facilities will be offered the vaccine this week, with staff hard at work on Monday to distribute information and obtain informed consent.
Mr Robertson said Wagga had been fortunate to have avoided any aged care residents being exposed to the virus before the vaccine, considering many were especially vulnerable to respiratory illnesses like COVID-19.
"That extra layer of protection is just fantastic, if anybody deserves it, it's our elderly Australians," he said.
The news comes after the first small group of vaccinations were administered on Sunday before frontline healthcare and quarantine workers began receiving them across major cities on Monday.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it was a "truly exciting day" as the first 1200 frontline workers were vaccinated across three Sydney hubs.
35,000 vaccinations are set to be carried out across those hubs in the next three weeks.
The expected March arrival of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine will see the rollout expand, with plans to vaccinate the entire Australian population by October.
The Pfizer/BioNTech hub set for Wagga Hospital which was announced earlier this month is yet to open.
The vaccination of NSW Health staff and public aged care residents will be carried out separately from the private aged care rollout.
