Some Dunedin residents were a little too eager to get their Covid-19 booster shot yesterday after the Government announced the waiting period was being reduced.
The wait to receive a booster dose of the vaccine will soon be lowered from four months to three.
The change does not apply until Friday, but pharmacies were already seeing higher demand, just hours after the announcement.
Antidote Macandrew pharmacist Chin Loh said some people had already shown up asking for their booster.
He had to turn them down as the systems were not updated for the new policy.
There had been a lot of demand for boosters this year and keeping up had been a struggle on some days, but the pharmacy had been able to deliver "again and again".
When bookings were required the pharmacy could plan out the number of doses it needed and staff .
Since walk-ins became an option there had been days when 40 people wanted shots in an hour.
Bookings were easier to manage and meant no unused vaccines would be wasted.
The large number of inquiries the pharmacy received regarding general vaccination slowed the process down as well.
Pharmacies were not the appropriate entity to ask about most things and in many situations could not help, he said.
A Southern District Health Board spokeswoman said it was prepared for the expected increase in demand.
Most providers were not operating at full capacity and some had increased capacity to deal with the expected increase in demand.
It regularly assessed the change in demand and acted accordingly to ensure all areas had sufficient capacity.
Glenn Mitchell, of Life Pharmacy Wilkinsons, said he expected a strong increase in people getting their boosters over the next week.
The pharmacy was based on a walk-in model, which meant the increased uptake was not a concern.
Unichem Quins Gore Pharmacy owner and pharmacist Stephen Gemmill said the change would certainly increase the volume of boosters they delivered. However, pharmacists were "well and truly" used to changes in the rules and were ready for it.
