Coffs/Grafton region scores poorly on Covid-19 vaccination rates

With residents in regional NSW due to get those Pfizer doses back, statistics show how keen Coffs and Grafton residents are to roll up their sleeves.

Vaccinations taken from regional residents and given to Year 12 students in Sydney will be returned in the next two weeks as figures shows the Coffs/Clarence vaccination rate lags behind many others.

Just a week after it was announced Pfizer vaccinations would be redirected from the regions to hard-hit areas of Sydney, the Federal Government has announced extra doses more than 180,000 for NSW.

While most will be sent to Sydney, Coffs Harbour MP Gurmesh Singh said those sent back to the regions would allow NSW Health to reinstate all bookings affected by the recent reallocation of doses to Year 12 students

“People whose bookings were recently cancelled will be rebooked to ensure they are the first to receive the new doses,” he said.

However, recent data has suggested the Coffs Harbour and Grafton areas have been slower than many other areas when it comes to getting vaccinated against Covid-19.

So far, just 14.6 per cent of the population aged over 15 is fully vaccinated, meaning the Coffs Harbour/Grafton area has the ninth smallest rate in the country.

It’s a rate that is equal to South West Sydney, currently deep in crisis.

There are positive signs though, with Coffs Harbour/Grafton performing significantly better when it comes to the percentage of the population with only one does.

Currently 41.7 per cent of residents have rolled up their sleeve at least once, putting us in the top half of areas on the vaccination front.

It is unknown if the recent Covid scare in Coffs Harbour, when a positive case visited a pub and construction site sparked an increase in vaccination bookings as it did Covid tests.

It has also just been revealed that trace elements of Covid-19 have been found in sewage samples from Coffs Harbour and Bonny Hills.

Last week, Healthy North Coast revealed nearly 171,000 vaccine doses had been delivered since the program began.

A vast majority of those vaccinations – 77 per cent – were AstraZeneca.

The organisation, which is responsible for the vaccine rollout from Port Macquarie to Tweed Heads, also announced that a record 12,330 doses were given in just one week.

“Our frontline health services and staff are working around the clock to adjust to the changing nature of the rollout, supporting increased testing and vaccinations, as well as continuing to provide non-Covid services,” Healthy North Coast Chief Executive Julie Sturgess said.

“We’re now working with residential aged care facilities and supporting local initiatives through GPs and the two LHDs in our region to vaccinate aged care staff.

We’re also working with our local health district partners to support people who are experiencing homelessness in our region to get their Covid jabs.”