Won’t get to 80 per cent until 2022: Qld regions holding us back

The Premier has signalled Queensland hitting the 80 per cent statewide vaccinated milestone may not be enough, calling for an “even spread” of Covid-19 protection across the state, despite some areas unlikely to hit targets until 2022.

Patchy vaccination rates across Queensland’s regions could hold back the state’s roadmap out of Covid-19, as the Health Minister issued a “mission” to residents to go out and get the jab in the next six weeks.

The Premier has signalled Queensland hitting the 80 per cent statewide vaccinated milestone may not be enough, calling for an “even spread” of Covid-19 protection across the state.

Her concerns come as the latest vaccination data shows inconsistent uptake of the jab has left some regions significantly more vulnerable to Covid-19 than others — with certain areas unlikely to hit jab targets until 2022.

Unlike other jurisdictions, the Queensland government has held off on providing a thorough reopening plan — a move health experts said would help spur vaccination rates.

Health Minister Yvette D'Ath and Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Instead, Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said the “mission” was for people to get jabbed in the “next five to six weeks” — which hits on November 15 and 22 — in order to “allow us to open up”.

By those dates it is likely international arrivals will be able to fly in to NSW and undergo home quarantine under its current plan and it would be more than 10 weeks of Queenslanders being locked out of their own state.

Data analysis by the Courier-Mail shows by mid-November about 73 per cent of the state, on average, would be fully vaccinated. The state is expected to hit 80 per cent by November’s end.

But patchy take up of the jab means certain regions may not hit the heralded 80 per cent fully vaccinated mark until early 2022, months after areas like Brisbane, Noosa and Goodiwindi.

In the least protected areas, the Aboriginal communities of Yarrabah and Cherbourg, the heralded 80 per cent milestone won’t be reached until 2023 and 2024 if the take up remains glacial.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Ms D’Ath, in separate press conferences, said hesitancy and complacency were causing slow jab take up in certain regions, particularly those that had dodged Covid-19 outbreaks.

“We are working out when we will get to 80 per cent double vaccination,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“But like I said, I want that evenly spread across the state.”

Ms D’Ath said Queensland’s “targets” were to retain its freedoms and avoid the 400 deaths and 60,000 cases NSW have faced in its current outbreak.

She said targets of 70 or 80 per cent did not mean an individual would be protected, warning the virus would infiltrate “every community”, the question was where it would strike first.

“If someone wants a target, the target is getting yourself protected in the next five to six weeks,” Ms D’Ath said.

“That is your mission. Get yourself protected and that helps protect our whole community and allows us to open up.”

Queensland marked its sixth straight day of zero locally acquired cases, while a close call with an infectious person travelling from Sydney to Brisbane with the wrong paperwork considered no risk to the community.

Meanwhile, a new ‘Get the Vax’ campaign will launch on Tuesday and run across TV, radio, social media and digital platforms and in cinemas.

The video shows community sport, open schools, young people at a cinema and a border check point while a voice over asks people not to squander their hard work keeping the virus out by not getting vaccinated.

“The Delta is on our doorstep,” it says.

“We can’t keep it out forever.

“We need to use this window to urgently get every Queenslander vaccinated.”

Ahead of the launch, Ms Palaszczuk said: “As each day passes, we risk more people contracting the highly infectious Delta strain of coronavirus and we need to protect ourselves by getting vaccinated.”