Wealthier urban areas have some of the country’s highest vaccination rates,new data shows.Credit:Steven Siewert
The lowest rates are all in regional areas,led by Western Australia’s Outback (North) where 8.6 per cent of its adult population are fully vaccinated. The Queensland regional areas of Mackay/Isaac/Whitsunday had 10.2 per cent and Logan/Beaudesert 13.2 per cent full vaccine coverage rates.
Only NSW,Victoria and Tasmania have regions where more than 50 per cent of the population has received the first dose.
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The highest take-up in Queensland is in Brisbane’s west,with 24.5 per cent of that population fully vaccinated and 46.2 per cent covered by one dose. In South Australia Adelaide’s south has the highest vaccination rate with 22.8 per cent fully immunised and 46.1 per cent partially vaccinated,while in inner Perth 48.9 per cent have received one dose and 25.5 per cent have had both.
On Tuesday,NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said one of the reasons the city’s south-west had one of the lowest vaccination rates was that the population in the worst affected areas was “younger than the state’s average”.
“Until recently,the health advice precluded a lot of people[from] coming forward and getting vaccinated,” she said.
“That is why we have a concerted effort,whether it’s via mobile clinics,going to community hubs to vaccinate and ramping up pharmacy access,” Ms Berejiklian said.