Cherbourg launch door-to-door vaccination service to boost lagging vaccination rate

‘While others celebrate their freedom, it will be our community and families that could suffer a greater burden of illness and death.’ A stark warning has been issued and a new plan of attack rolled out as the region prepares to face a grim Covid risk.

Door-to-door vaccinations kicked off in Cherbourg on Thursday as the community races against time to boost their lagging vaccination rate before the Queensland border opens on December 17.

“There’s a very real possibility that Covid will arrive and spread across southeast Queensland when the border opens,” Darling Downs Health director of indigenous health Rica Lacey said.

“We don’t have the rates of vaccination we would like to see in Cherbourg so while others celebrate their freedom, it will be our community and families that could suffer a greater burden of illness and death.

“The best way to avoid this is if we step-up as a people and get our mob vaccinated – this is our best protection from COVID-19.”

The Cherbourg Covid vaccination team will go door-to-door starting Thursday and provide free Pfizer vaccinations to anyone aged 12 or over.

The service will not be operating on Friday but will be back again next Monday.

Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Mayor Elvie Sandow said this was a “life and death situation”, with fears the Delta variant could wipe out half the community unless drastic action was taken to reach the 80 per cent vaccination rate by December 17.

She said it was predicted the virus could reach Cherbourg within a week of borders opening, meaning the community would likely be forced into lockdown as the state opens up to travel.

The latest local government area vaccination data revealed Cherbourg remains the least-protected community in the state, with less than 26 per cent of residents in Cherbourg fully vaccinated and less than 34 per cent having received their first dose.

Cr Sandow said this was largely due to misinformation circulating on social media.

“I just want our people and community to realise how important this is,” she said.

The initiative follows a meeting between the council and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships Partnership Minister Craig Crawford.

Mr Crawford said the door-to-door method proved successful in other Aboriginal communities such as Yarrabah, which also battled dangerous misinformation.

“The commonality is social media messaging by people who are ill-informed and don't know what they’re talking about spreading all sorts of non-truths and confusing people. It’s very unhelpful,” he said.

“I totally accept that this is an individual and personal choice for everybody, and I want everyone to make a really informed decision about whether they want to have the vaccine or not. But I want that decision to be based on fact.

“If you don't want to have it, by all means don’t have it, but please don’t preach to everyone else about why they shouldn’t have it. Let people make an informed decision.”

More information on getting vaccinated can be found HERE.