The three suburbs delaying Sydney's freedom
With Covid restrictions starting to ease and Sydney set to open up when vaccination rates hit 70 and 80 per cent, the race is on for people to get the jab.
NSW has achieved a first-dose vaccination rate of 84.1 per cent while 56.6 per cent are fully vaccinated.
However, there are three inner-city suburbs that are lagging behind the rest, which could hold the rest of the city back from the long-awaited freedoms.
Inner West, Randwick and City of Sydney falling behind
According to a Channel 9 report, Sydney's slowest LGA in the vaccine race is the City of Sydney, with just 67.3 per cent of residents with one dose. Randwick has 74.1 per cent with one dose, while the Inner West has 77.6 per cent.
While these suburbs are lagging, the western suburbs of Campbelltown and Camden have 90 per cent of residents aged 16 years and over with one dose of vaccine.
When looking at NSW Health's data, many of the suburbs surrounding the city's largest universities – Darlington, Chippendale, Ultimo, Kensington and Kingsford – also appear to have lower rates of vaccination.
But the figures could be explained by population change, the Sydney Morning Herald reports, as NSW Health uses the ABS Estimated Resident Population 2019 to calculate its postcode vaccination rates.
Maroubra MP Michael Daley told Channel 9 although a vaccination hub did open for people in the Randwick City Council, it was only open for a week, which wasn't enough time to vaccinate people, He also claims it was not being promoted enough.
Randwick Mayor Danny Said told the Herald Sun the council’s lower vaccination rate was due to its younger population and the lack of Pfizer availability. He said he had written to the Premier and Health Minister requesting better vaccine access in the area several times throughout the lockdown.
A pop-up clinic will open next Tuesday from the University of New South Wales campus.
NSW records 1043 Covid cases
NSW reported a further 11 Covid-related deaths, including a man in his 40s, and 1043 new local cases on Friday.
Covid NSW: Man in his 40s dies at home, cases refuse to drop
More NSW residents emerge from lockdown as cases trend upwards
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it was pleasing to see vaccination rates "go through the roof" in local government areas of concern, with some showing first dose rates over 90 per cent.
One-third of those aged 12 to 15 have now received a first dose which she called "outstanding".
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