Covid-19: Sydneysiders beating Melbourne in race to reach ideal jab rate

The quick setting up of vaccine hubs has been partly credited with NSW beating Victoria to the race for the the ideal vaccination number of 80 per cent.

It’s a tale of two states with NSW and Victoria implementing similar vaccination strategies but achieving very different results – and Sydneysiders are pulling ahead of Melburnians in the race to reach a jab rate of 80 per cent.

On Monday, NSW stood at a double-dose rate of 52.6 per cent, ahead of Victoria at 43.9 per cent, despite both states having almost identical figures in the first week of July.

Current modelling suggests NSW will reach 80 per cent on October 19 while Victoria is working towards a projection of November 5.

Experts credit the NSW government’s head start in setting up mass vaccination hubs and creating a “sense of urgency”, alongside the fast-tracking of the state’s allocation of Pfizer doses by the federal government as the reason behind its success.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian has overseen an urgent NSW Covid response. Picture: Getty Images

While Victoria has also ­implemented many of the same initiatives, they were started weeks later.

Programs to vaccinate disadvantaged communities in Victoria were already running but have been rapidly scaled up in recent weeks and vaccine mandates were brought in this week for construction workers and truck drivers – an initiative NSW started on August 7 for workers in hotspots.

“The sense of urgency NSW put on this six to eight weeks ago, in terms of making vaccination hubs available, has definitely helped. NSW has been very proactive at getting vaccination rates up. It’s not just a supply issue, it’s about being proactive,” epidemiologist Peter Collignon said.

“NSW was pushing for months to have the state-run vaccination hubs once supply became available.”

Infectious diseases expert Tony Cunningham said NSW’s rapid rollout of mass vaccination hubs – including one which was transformed from a Bunnings Warehouse into a clinic in six weeks – was “magnificent”.

“With Qudos Bank Arena, the work in hospitals, the mass vaccinations hubs and GPs all doing their bit … there has been some magnificent stuff. I think Victoria are certainly moving in that direction,” he said.

A health official debunked Victorian Premier Dan Andrews’ long-running argument that his state is lagging because of unfair allocations of vaccines to residents in NSW.

The official confirmed that by the end of the vaccine rollout, all states will have their equal share of vaccines per capita, and NSW’s additional doses were always intended for the state but were simply brought forward at the height of the outbreak.

The theory of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews about more vaccines being given to NSW has been debunked. provides a coronavirus update at the Treasury Theatre in Melbourne. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

Mr Andrews said NSW had benefited from having more GPs accredited for its vaccine rollout program than Victoria.

“(Hopefully) we get every single dose and more of Pfizer than we want which had been forecast for October period but as I left national cabinet on Friday... there is some issue,” he said. “I don’t want to trawl over other matters that we’ve dealt with, (but) ... there were more GPs accredited, more GPs involved there (NSW) than here.”