Vax and the City: Every public health official in Australia agrees that mass vaccination is the only way out of this crisis. We at Time Out recommend that you get vaccinated as soon as you can if that is appropriate for your own health. Here's how to make a vaccination appointment. Please speak to a medical professional about what is right for you.
Just one Victorian local government area has so far met the 80 per cent vaccination target necessary to fully open the state and end lockdowns. More than 83 per cent of people in the regional LGA of Queenscliffe, on the Bellarine Peninsula, have had two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, and a whopping 95 per cent of the population have had at least one shot. But Queenscliffe, which comprises the towns of Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale, is also the smallest LGA in Victoria, clocking in at just 10 square kilometres and a population of just under 3,000.
The next best-performing LGAs in terms of vaccination are Surf Coast and Buloke, in northwest Victoria, which have a full vaccination rate of 67 per cent and 65 per cent respectively. The best-performing metropolitan Melbourne LGA is Bayside, which includes the wealthy Melbourne suburbs of Brighton, Hampton and Sandringham. About 63 per cent of residents over the age of 16 of Bayside have been fully vaccinated so far, with 88 per cent having received their first dose.
At the other end, the worst-performing LGA is the city of Melbourne, which is also the most populous LGA in the state. Just 34 per cent of people who live in the city of Melbourne have been fully vaccinated, with 64 per cent having had a single dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. The northwestern LGA of Hume, which includes Broadmeadows and Roxburgh Park, is the second-least vaccinated LGA in the state, with 35 per cent of the population fully vaccinated. And fewer than 40 per cent of residents have been fully vaccinated in the metropolitan LGAs of Greater Dandenong, Melton, Whittlesea and Brimbank.
Acting chief health officer Benjamin Cowie noted at the September 29 media conference that of the more than 15,000 total cases in Victoria since July, 79 per cent had been eligible for a vaccine at the time of their infection but 88 per cent were completely unvaccinated. He pointed out that 86 per cent of patients who ended up in hospital were unvaccinated, and 98 per cent who were admitted to ICU were unvaccinated.