Interactive map shows Victoria’s suburbs lagging behind in vaccine targets
Victorians are being urged to step up and get vaccinated as a bleak new map reveals the areas with the lowest vaccination rates.
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Suburbs with Victoria’s lowest Covid vaccination rates have been revealed in a new interactive map, showing some areas have less than 10 per cent of their population fully protected.
The Victorian Government launched the new map this week in a bid to target dozens of high-risk suburbs in a swift jab blitz to address low numbers.
The map, which shows vaccine rates by area, has revealed dire numbers in some suburbs battling the worst of the current outbreak.
Truganina, in Melbourne’s west, had the worst numbers in the state, with only between five and 10 per cent of the population fully vaccinated, and up to 25 per receiving a first dose.
Dandenong and Craigieburn, which have also been listed as hotspot suburbs, were also among the suburbs struggling, with only 20-30 per cent of residents in those areas receiving a second dose.
The suburbs of Werribee, Melton, Whittlesea, Cranbourne and Pakenham were also listed among the lowest in the state, with a second dose average of between 30 and 25 per cent.
In stark contrast, prestigious suburbs in Melbourne’s inner east, north and south recorded some of the highest rates.
The map showed Malvern and Kooyong as Melbourne’s most-vaccinated suburbs, with up to 90 per cent of residents receiving a first dose, and between 60 and 65 per cent on their second.
Toorak, Brighton and Eltham trailed close behind, with up to 85 per cent of residents receiving a first dose, and up to 60 per cent a second.
In regional Victoria, towns in the northwest and east of the state led vaccine rates, with up to 100 per cent of residents in Castlemaine, Metung, Narraport, Jil Jil, Curyo, Whirily and Kinnabulla already having received their first dose, and up to 75 per cent on their second.
Towns including Warracknabeal, Charlton, Maldon, Maryborough, St Leonard’s, Ocean Grove, Anglesea and Wilsons Prom all consistently showed first date rates between 60 and 75 per cent.
The vaccination rates have highlighted a stark divide between the state’s most disadvantaged suburbs and those where socio-economic standards are higher, with age, education, language, disadvantage and reduced access all contributing to the issue.
Torrens University’s director of public health information development unit John Glove, who spoke to The Guardian last month, said there were four key demographics that were least likely to be unvaccinated.
Those include people born in countries where English is not the main language, aged pensions, those on social welfare and those who are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
The has been researching the link between immunisation rates and socio-economic levels and found poverty was a common cause.
Victorian authorities are targeting 27 postcodes with lower first dose vaccination rates with a focus on uplifting vaccination rates from under 70 per cent.
The suburbs include outer-suburban areas such as Campbellfield and Frankston North, and inner-suburban areas such as St Kilda and Kensington
Melbourne’s north is driving more than a third of all cases, while infections in Melbourne’s west are also causing a spike as authorities revealed rising infections in the southeast
Authorities now hope the vaccination map will help address the issue, along with vaccination pop-ups.
“There’s been a lot of engagement and announcements, the blitz is everywhere,” chief health officer Brett Sutton said this week.
“We absolutely call on people to step up and get their protection because there is that vulnerability when you’ve got that lower vaccination coverage wherever you are in Australia.”
rhiannon.tuffield@news.com.au
Originally published as Interactive map shows Victoria’s suburbs lagging behind in vaccine targets
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