Individual Ability Supports (IAS) Inc organised the vaccination for both staff and those they support in a two-day drive by provider Aspen Medical to deliver as many doses as they could.

For 42 IAS staff and those they support, as well as a few spots left-over and taken up by Northaven staff, their Inverell office was filled with anticipation.

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IAS CEO Penny Judge said they'd been quick and eager to sign up to the drive offered by Aspen, seeing as they thought they'd be given an opportunity to get the shots much earlier in the piece, especially working with some who have high needs and hence are classified as high-priority from the government.

Aged care and disability care staff were classified high priority in the Federal Government's COVID road map, and were eligible to get the Pfizer from February 1. Up to 1.4 million doses were set aside for their Phase 1a grouping.

Mick Reed is one of them. Currently working two jobs - one for council and the other as a support worker for IAS - he is deemed essential for both.

Yet he'd been unsuccessful in his search for Pfizer in Inverell until now.

"I've been ringing all around town trying to get on a list of the Pfizer dose," he explained.

"So when this came up through IAS, I jumped on it."

Jackson Haussler, also a support worker, hadn't given much priority to getting vaccinated, a little hesitant about the jab when it was first released.

But with growing discussions about making the vaccination mandatory for medical and support workers, he said it was most likely a matter of time before he had no choice in the matter.

"When it was offered through work, I chose to come and get it done," he said.

"This way it'll be over and done with," and he can be sure he is doing all he can to protect those he supports, too.

While the Australian Government is fielding calls to make the vaccine mandatory, they've so far said it's up to the individual businesses to make that judgement call for their staff.

Ms Judge said they would never make getting the shots compulsory for their staff, in keeping with their inclusive and non-segregational "pro-choice" values.

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"We support personal choice, so we will not mandate vaccinations," she told the Times.

"But in saying that, we would welcome a public health mandate for vaccination and we would certainly enforce that."

Her company has bases in Inverell, Glen Innes and in the Hunter areas.

She said with the nature of their work, many of their staff had been without shifts for at least two weeks to protect those they support, having travelled to Armidale or Tamworth right before the current lockdowns were imposed.

With more staff choosing to get vaccinated, she hoped lost shifts would no longer be a reality for those protected against COVID-19.

"A special thanks to Tracey Farrugia for all the leg work and organising she's done to make these vaccination days a reality," Ms Judge added of New England's Inverell-based service coordinator.

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