THE days of people clamouring for a COVID-19 vaccine at Belmont's mass vaccination hub are long gone, and now it is time to down tools and shut up shop.
Since the former Bunnings was converted into a large scale vaccination centre just shy of a year ago, it has delivered about 244,000 vaccinations to adults and almost 30,000 children.
"We wouldn't have been able to do that volume unless we had a place like that," Elizabeth Grist, Hunter New England Health's COVID-19 response lead, said.
"It absolutely served its purpose - it got people of Lake Macquarie, Newcastle and Hunter vaccinated quickly at a time when people were crying out to be vaccinated.
"It was a really scary time."
Ms Grist reflected that when the hub first opened, the car park was full and people without appointments were lining up at the end of the day in case there were any leftover vaccines available.
They were vaccinating up to 3000 people a day.
On Wednesday, she saw only a handful of people there for a vaccination.
"What we are seeing now is with all the pharmacies and GPs offering the vaccine, and most people having had the two shots - though we still promote the third - there just isn't the demand for it now," Ms Grist said.
"But we are opening a smaller centre at our Wallsend campus.
"It will open to the public on Monday, and people can book in the same way through the Vaccine Clinic Finder."
Ms Grist said the hub had been a well-oiled machine, driven by nurses and retired nurses, pharmacists and doctors.
"We had people put their hand up to be marshals and cleaning support staff - and the place had such a lovely feel to it because everybody felt like they were giving back and helping the community," she said. "It was tough at times - those first few days when everyone was clamouring outside to get vaccinated, and we didn't have any more...
"Fortunately we did get a lot of vaccine toward the end of the year and gradually, I think right across Australia, we've seen demand for these larger hubs diminish."
But Ms Grist said there were contingency plans in place should they have to rapidly upscale again.
It comes as Health Minister Mark Butler announced Australia's pharmaceutical contracts would be reviewed to ensure the nation was well placed in relation to emerging COVID-19 variants.
The latest respiratory surveillance report shows that COVID-19 transmission in the community remains high with close to a thousand cases a day.
In Hunter New England, there were 6776 COVID-19 cases reported in the week ending June 25.
During that week there were 55 hospitalisations - including seven in ICU - and 10 deaths. So far this year, there have been 272,438 positive cases recorded throughout the region.
