Almost 20 per cent of Riverina residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, new data has revealed.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
On Tuesday, NSW Health released new statistics revealing the rate of vaccinations geographically across Australia.
In the Riverina, 18.7 per cent of the population over the age of 15 has been fully vaccinated against COVID, as of August 1.
This places the region at 13 out of the 28 geographic areas in the state. The Riverina falls just behind the Central Coast at 19.6 per cent fully vaccinated, and just ahead of the Capital Region at 17.9 per cent.
43.5 per cent of people over 15 have received at least one dose of the vaccine in the Riverina, ranking the region 12th place.
The NSW region with the highest rate of vaccination is North Sydney and Hornsby, with 26.9 per cent of people over 15 fully vaccinated. The Far West and Orana has the lowest rate, at 13.4 per cent.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Tuesday that she is wanting to see restrictions across the state eased on August 29 when the current lockdown across Greater Sydney is scheduled to end.
She added that this will "depend on where case numbers are at and what the vaccination rate is".
Ms Berejiklian has set a target of 6 million jabs by the end of August.
"I suspect we'll be at 4 million by the end of the week or in the next few days and that's a target I'd like to set for New South Wales and I'm really urging everybody to come forward, to listen to the health advice," she said.
"If you have any concerns, go through your GP but please know that the more of us that get vaccinated, the greater chance we have to live freely, beyond August 29."
READ MORE
The Premier also said the government is "keen to explore" vaccine incentives. This comes after Labor has called for a one-off payment of $300 for Australians fully vaccinated by December.
"We know that people value their freedom, their desire to go back to work, their desire to engage in community life and those are the type of incentives that we'll be looking at over the next little while to provide our citizens with the opportunities to know that if they're vaccinated and their loved ones are vaccinated, there will be opportunities for greater freedom moving forward," she said.
Last week, the state government announced that up to 40,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine would be re-allocated from NSW Health's rural and regional supply to select Year 12 students in the worst affected areas of Sydney.
This has already lead to a number of appointment cancellations across the Riverina.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.areanews.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News