No NSW Covid cases in ICU have been fully vaccinated

There’s a lot of fear around Covid-19 vaccines – but today, one statistic emerged that should have even anti-vaxxers queuing to get jabbed.

New South Wales’ chief health officer has shown exactly why every Australian should be desperate to get a Covid-19 vaccination, revealing that none of people currently in ICU has been fully vaccinated.

Speaking to reporters this morning, Dr Kerry Chant said that of the 18 people, one is in their 20s, one in their 30s, two in their 40s, five in their 50s, five in their 60s, three in their 70s and one in their 80s. Five currently require the use of a ventilator.

“Of the 18 people in intensive care, only one has received one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine,” Dr Chant said.

Time and again throughout this latest outbreak — Sydney’s worst since the pandemic began — health authorities have reinforced the importance of people getting vaccinated, with the NSW Premier saying today that the only way out of the pandemic for the entire nation is for people to come forward and get the jab.

“Please note this is the time to get vaccinated. Make sure you don’t have symptoms and are Covid free but we encourage everyone to come forward and get vaccinated through our NSW Health sites or of course through the GP network,” Gladys Berejiklian said.

“I am really pleased and want to thank the pharmacists for stepping up. Many of them will be able to offer AstraZeneca and we know that the way out of this Covid situation we have across the nation is high rates of vaccination. We are looking forward to the population responding as they have, but we are also looking forward to those extra doses which we know will come towards the end of September.”

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Given the highly transmissible nature of the Delta strain and any future variants, Dr Kerry Chant said getting vaccinated is more important than ever. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

People line up at the Vaccination Hub at the Olympic Park. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gaye Gerard

Given the highly transmissible nature of the Delta strain and any future variants, Dr Chant said getting vaccinated is more important than ever.

“I’ll reiterate [about] getting vaccinated. There are a limited number of reasons why an individual is advised not to but that is a very small number of reasons,” she said.

“I’d urge everyone over 70 and over 60, everyone to consider the AstraZeneca vaccine and take any opportunity to get vaccinated … It is essential for us to live somewhat normally with this Delta virus and any other variant we might get thrown out that we are going to have to be highly vaccinated as a population and also we are going to have to live with booster shots.”

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Of the patients in ICU in St Vincent's Hospital, only one has been vaccinated. Picture: Kate Geraghty

Ms Berejiklian said earlier this week she had been urging federal authorities for extra doses for months.

“Even when we had months and months of zero community transmission, I had a sense of urgency,” she told reporters.

“We have increased our capacity and our access and now all we need are the extra doses and every time we get the extra doses we will make sure they get into arms, which is so critical and so important.”

People over 40 are now able to access AstraZeneca jabs at all NSW Health sites — previously only able to access the vaccine through a GP.

Dr Chant said on Monday the expansion for those over 40 was due to a dramatic change in the risk for the community.

“The current risk situation has changed dramatically,” she said.

“Because we actually have Covid and the Delta strain circulating, it then means that your individual risk of acquiring the strain is very much different than it would have been a month or so ago when your community risk would have been very low.”