The ACT Government is aiming to have 95 per cent of Canberrans over the age of 12 vaccinated by Christmas, with those aged 16 to 29 years expected to be jabbed from late October.
The ACT is currently the most vaccinated jurisdiction in Australia and is on track to pass the Doherty Institute targets of 70 and 80 per cent before any other state or territory.
As of 30 August, 65.2 per cent of Canberrans aged 16 up have received their first dose, with 41.5 per cent having had two doses.
Australia has fully vaccinated 34.2 per cent of its population aged 16 and over, while 54.4 have received one jab.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said at this point, Australia is tracking toward achieving an 80 per cent double dose rate by late November.
“It would be everyone’s desire to have way more than 80 per cent double-dose vaccinated by Christmas, and I hope the ACT can be at 90 to 95 per cent by Christmas,” he said.
Despite the ACT leading the race and due to finish first, Mr Barr said public health restrictions won’t be eased substantially until the nation has hit 80 per cent.
“Once you get to that level of vaccination coverage then it gets you as pretty close to herd immunity as you’re ever going to get … and that makes things a lot safer,” he said.
With vaccine hesitancy most reliably determined by looking at numbers without their first dose, Mr Barr said the ACT is consistently recording numbers over 95 per cent across population groups.
“We’ve definitely done that with over 70s, over 50s,” he said. “Gen X is looking good as well, and it’s looking like 90 per cent of 30 to 39-year-olds.”
Achieving the 95 per cent by Christmas goal is going to be dependent on what 12 to 29-year-olds do.
“That’ll seal the deal of getting us to 95 per cent,” he said.
According to Mr Barr, achieving that result, particularly amongst 12 to 15-year-olds, is going to be reliant on the Moderna shot being approved and a substantial supply of Pfizer being organised by the Commonwealth Government.
“It’s really difficult,” he said. “That’s the whole difficult issue we are dealing with at the moment.
“The hope is that the months of October and November will be the biggest months of vaccination both in the ACT and nationally.”
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