Vaccination rates lowest in Sydney suburbs with most Covid cases

Suburbs in south-west and western Sydney under the harshest lockdown conditions have the lowest Covid vaccination rates in New South Wales, while northern parts of the city have the highest number of immunised residents.

In south-west Sydney, including the suburb of Fairfield which was the first area to have tighter restrictions imposed, just 33.1% of residents over the age of 15 have received their first dose – the lowest amount in the state. Just under 15% of residents have received both doses.

Sydney’s inner south-west, which includes parts of Canterbury and Bankstown, which have also been subject to harsher lockdown measures, has the second lowest rate of vaccines administered, with just 33.5% of residents receiving the first dose and 16.1% receiving two.

Parramatta, which is also under tighter restrictions than the rest of Sydney, has the next lowest share of vaccinated residents, with 35.1% of residents having had their first dose and 17.7% of people having both injections. In the city and inner south district, 36.2% of residents have had their first dose and 19.7% have had their second.

The data, which takes into account vaccinations administered up until 1 August, was released by the federal government on Monday.

Meanwhile, in North Sydney and Hornsby, the statistical area taking in much of Sydney’s affluent lower and upper north shore, 51.9% of residents over 15 have received their first dose of the vaccine, with 26.9% receiving both doses – the highest first and second dose figures in the state.

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Southern Highlands and Shoalhaven has the next highest first dose vaccination rate, with 50.5% of residents receiving their first dose, followed by Baulkham Hills and Hawkesbury with 49.8%, Sutherland with 48.9% and the Northern Beaches with 47.7%.

Health authorities were not surprised by the disparity between different parts of Sydney, putting it down to the difference in age profiles.

On Tuesday, the NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, noted the average age of the population in south-western Sydney is younger than the state average.

“Until recently, health advice precluded a lot of people coming forward and getting vaccinated. Now the health advice has changed, given the outbreak,” Berejiklian said of the younger cohort that had only recently become eligible for AstraZeneca vaccine.

Berejiklian reiterated that she wanted the vaccine strategy to focus on increasing rates in the eight local government areas of concern across south-west and western Sydney.

In Victoria, 52.6% of residents in Bendigo have had a first dose – the highest rate in the state and the country.

Melbourne’s inner south, which stretches from Brighton and Malvern to above Frankston, has the city’s highest rate of first doses at 49%.

Melbourne’s north-west and west, which takes in the triangular area from the western part of the city out to Lancefield in the north and Werribee in the south, have first dose vaccination rates of just under 35%.

Western Australia’s northern outback, a vast area taking in the north-west coast of the state from Exmouth and extending to the Northern Territory border, has the lowest vaccination rates in Australia.

Just 18.2% of people in the area, which takes in Port Hedland and Broome, have had their first dose of Covid vaccine, with 8.6% of residents having both doses.