Gladys Berejiklian puts Byron Shire on notice about low Covid vaccination rates

Areas with lower vaccination rates, more Covid cases or increased hospitalisation could face extra restrictions, according to Gladys Berejiklian.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has put communities in northern NSW with low Covid vaccination rates on notice: get vaccinated or you might temporarily lose the ability to move around freely.

Ms Berejiklian said restrictions may be imposed after the state hits 70 per cent double dose vaccination rates and opens up.

She said those restrictions would depend upon people’s vaccination status, where they live or the level of infection rates at any specific time.

“Dr Chant and the health department will give government advice on how we deal with those communities, but also, more broadly, how we deal with communities that might have high levels of disease,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“As I foreshadowed the day we announced the roadmap (to reopen the state), it could be a situation where the case numbers are too high when we open up the state, that if you live in a community or (are in) a category of person who has those high rates of the virus, we might have to say to you ‘for a little while do these things that you need to do within your local area’.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian provides an update on COVID-19 at the Qudos Bank Arena vaccination hub. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

“We have all those options, and as we move closer to that time, Health will be able to provide us with their advice.”

The premier said not being vaccinated was more than just an individual choice.

“Unvaccinated people spread the disease much more readily, so if you are in a venue and there’s unvaccinated people, you have more chance of getting the disease from them,” she said.

“The two most important numbers are the vaccination rate and the hospitalisation rate.”

She meanwhile celebrated NSW marking 80 per cent of residents having received their first dose of a Covid vaccine.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro took aim at members of the “large anti-vaxxer population” in the communities surrounding Byron Bay on Wednesday, blaming them for the region having the lowest first-dose vaccination numbers in the state.

According to weekly vaccination data, the Richmond – Tweed Federal Government Statistical Area has the lowest first-dose vaccination rate in the state at 65.4 per cent, or 136,341 people, while it also has the second lowest second-dose rate at 38.8 per cent with just 80,887 people fully vaccinated.

Coffs Harbour and Grafton recorded 68.5 per cent on first doses and 37.9 for second doses.

Both areas showed some of the lowest vaccination rates for the state.