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Live Breaking News: Vaccine hesitancy stuck at 'worrying' levels
Millions across Australia are in lockdown and NSW is on the verge of disaster, but it hasn't been enough to drive down vaccine hesitancy.
Millions across Australia are in lockdown and NSW is on the verge of disaster, but it hasn't been enough to drive down vaccine hesitancy.
The Melbourne Institute's fortnightly Vaccine Hesitancy Report – which tracks how many Australian adults are either unwilling or unsure about being vaccinated – has revealed that vaccine hesitancy across the country now sits at 21.8 per cent of the population.
The previous report, in late July, was at 21.5 per cent. And while hesitancy has been falling nationwide since peaking in mid-May, it appears to have plateaued in the last four weeks.
"It is worry that we might be starting to see a plateau in these numbers," the report's author, Melbourne Institute Professor Anthony Scott, told The Australian.
"Given the reasons for the hesitancy have been the same for some months, that is the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines, there is clearly an issue about the messaging. It is not getting through.
"We've seen other countries plateau at vaccination rates around the 70 per cent mark, so it is difficult, but we need to ensure people are in receipt of clear, unbiased advice and information on vaccination."
It comes as NSW confirmed 345 new Covid-19 cases and two new deaths, with three more Sydney LGAs facing harsher restrictions and the Hunter and New England lockdown extended.
Follow below for more updates. You can find yesterday's blog here.
Updates
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Nervy start for England
There's been criticism that the NSW Premier's supposed plan to achieve widespread vaccination instead of Covid zero will endanger the rest of the country.
Professor Baxter said the hope of maintaining Covid zero "is proving to be an extreme challenge", as demonstrated by the situation in Greater Sydney. But, for now, "we have no alternative".
"We only have about 40 per cent of people who are eligible for the vaccine given one dose. If we give up and don't kind of clamp down on Covid when it pops up, we are going to have a massive outbreak," she added.
"And a lot of people are going to get extremely sick and our hospitals are going to be overrun and people are unfortunately going to die. Unnecessarily.
"If we open up when we're vaccinated then that risk, it is not going to be zero, but it is going to be lower."
Three close contacts of a Covid-19 positive ACT man have now tested positive, the Territory's chief health officer has told ABC Canberra's Drive program.
It brings the total number of cases in the nation's capital to four, as it kicks off its first lockdown since the early days of the pandemic.
"I can report very hot off the press that we knew of nine really close contacts, so these were people who had prolonged and repeated exposure to our case," Dr Kerry Coleman told the program.
"We know that three of those have given us additional positive cases, the other six have returned negative tests at this point in time."
Teams confirmed
Millions across Australia are in lockdown and NSW is on the verge of disaster, but it hasn't been enough to drive down vaccine hesitancy.
The Melbourne Institute's fortnightly Vaccine Hesitancy Report – which tracks how many Australian adults are either unwilling or unsure about being vaccinated – has revealed that vaccine hesitancy across the country now sits at 21.8 per cent of the population.
The previous report, in late July, was at 21.5 per cent. And while hesitancy has been falling nationwide since peaking in mid-May, it appears to have plateaued in the last four weeks.
The survey, authored by Melbourne Institute Professor Anthony Scott, also found that "between 40 and 50 per cent of those hesitant to get vaccinated are unlikely to change their minds even when facing the possibility of the unvaccinated getting banned from participating in various activities".
"It is worry that we might be starting to see a plateau in these numbers," Prof Scott told The Australian.
"Given the reasons for the hesitancy have been the same for some months, that is the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines, there is clearly an issue about the messaging. It is not getting through.
"We've seen other countries plateau at vaccination rates around the 70 per cent mark, so it is difficult, but we need to ensure people are in receipt of clear, unbiased advice and information on vaccination."
The latest Covid-19 vaccine sentiment report has been released by the Health Department.
Unsurprisingly, considering the state of the country at the moment, it shows that 79 per cent of Australians now have received or intend to get the jab – up nine per cent on July.
Support for the vaccine is now at its highest since ATAGI changed its advice on AstraZeneca.
It's also no surprise that concern about the nation's Covid-19 situation continues to go up: this number has increased for the third consecutive month, now at 45 per cent (from 29 per cent in May).
As a result, 21 per cent of respondents have gotten the vaccine, with 11 per cent of those getting AstraZeneca.
The Federal Government has sent 7000 additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine to Walgett in NSW's west, which entered lockdown overnight.
The remote region – which has a large Indigenous population – also received 3000 doses from the NSW Government.
Of those, 2200 are being directed from the NSW Aboriginal Health Services while 4800 are second doses scheduled to be sent to the state's GPs.
Local mayor Ian Woodcock has warned the consequences of an outbreak in a town with such a vulnerable population would be devastating.
"Anything to do with any medical situation here they put them on a plane and fly them out," he said.
"We've only got an emergency centre here at Lightning Ridge and we've got a bigger population…I think it would be devastating for the community.
"The way that our people live, they live very close to each other, you know there's quite a number of people living in one dwelling…they congregate up the street and have a bit of a yarn, so it'd be nothing to see 40 or 50 people congregating in the main street."
Byron Bay Covid spreader's criminal past
The man who brought Covid-19 to Byron Bay has been revealed as a former illegal immigrant with a history of drug charges.
Before he travelled from Sydney to Byron Bay, sparking a lockdown of the Northern Rivers, Zoran Radovanovic, 52, had a history of brushes with Australian law enforcement.
While being treated on a bed in Lismore Base Hospital for a disease he "didn't believe in", Mr Radovanovic was handed a Court Attendance Notice for breaching the public health order.
He is listed to appear in Lismore Local Court on September 13.
But it's not the first time Mr Radovanovic has been before the court.
– Mitchell Van Homrigh
Pemier Gladys Berejiklian has said the NSW government is open to hearing any ideas the police commissioner brings forward about extra compliance measures.
"There are additional measures that can increase compliance measures, well, of course the government will accept that, and the commissioner has always had that opportunity," she said.
"Of course we have asked him to really ramp up what activity he wants in relation to compliance, let us know if there are additional resources he needs.
"Also let us know if there are additional measures that we can introduce to make sure that we don’t leave a single stone unturned."
Ms Berejiklian said even a handful of people doing the wrong thing can cause major setbacks for the whole state.
"We are a difficult situation and we wanted to turn the tide and not leaving any stone unturned," she said.
"So if the Commissioner comes back tomorrow and in the following days and says he needs X, Y and Z, of course we will consider those."
There are now 374 Covid-19 patients in hospital in NSW, with 62 of those in intensive care, 29 of whom require ventilation.
"Of the 62 cases in intensive care, three are in their 20s, seven are in their 30s, five are in their 40s, 13 are in their 50s, 13 are in their 60s, 19 in their 70s and two in their 80s," deputy chief health officer Dr Marianne Gale said.
"Of the 62 people in intensive care, 57 are not vaccinated, and the remaining five have had one dose of either AstraZeneca or Pfizer."
Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the NSW health system is under "enormous" pressure.
"This is health in a pandemic. Managing a health system is very, very difficult," he said.
"One of the access points is hospitals because people who are positive come into hospitals, hopefully knowingly but sometimes not knowingly because they are not symptomatic.
"We have talked about this ad nauseam, but unfortunately patients or people who have the virus can actually have it with absolutely no symptoms, but they then can of course pass it on.
"Hospitals have been under enormous pressure, hospitals are now under substantial pressure."
The ACT will enter a snap seven-day lockdown after a confirmed Covid-19 case was recorded.
The lockdown will kick in from 5pm today, with a decision made after it was revealed the case was infectious in the community.
The source of the new infection is currently unknown.
Residents will only be allowed to leave their homes for essential reasons, including essential employment, healthcare, essential groceries and supplies and up to one hour of outdoor exercise.
General retail will be closed and hospitality venues will move to takeaway only.
This is the first covid case the ACT has confirmed in 105 days, with the last being recorded in quarantine. It has been more than 12 months since the capital recorded a locally acquired case.
"This is by far the most serious public health risk the ACT has faced in the past 12 months and that is why the ACT is introducing a strict lockdown response to this positive case," ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said in a statement.
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