Covid update: August vaccination month

PREMIER Gladys Berejiklian urged New South Wales residents to book a Covid-19 jab this month, saying August is the month “where all of us should come forward and get vaccinated.”

“Both vaccines are working extremely effectively. We still don’t know of anybody in Intensive Care who has received both doses of the vaccine. That is a positive thing, we know the vaccine’s working and we need people to come forward and get vaccinated,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“Unlike the flu, with Covid-19, it’s people in their 20s, 30s and 40s, that are most mobile . . . that are causing both getting the virus and spreading the virus, so it’s really important for us to get people between that 20 to 40 age group to get vaccinated,” she said.

“We’ve always had a sense of urgency in New South Wales and today is a greater sense of urgency than ever. We have the potential to speed up the program, we’re doing about half a million [vaccines] a week from all of those points of access and we urge everybody to come forward,” she said.

The state recorded 207 new cases of community transmission up to 8pm last night, with workplaces and household contacts remaining the prime sources of transmission.

Of these locally acquired cases, 105 are linked to a known case or cluster, 92 are household contacts and 13 are close contacts.

The source of infection for 102 cases is under investigation and at least 50 people were infectious while in the community.

There are currently 232 Covid-19 cases admitted to hospital, with 54 people in intensive care and 25 who require ventilation.

Sadly, another Covid-related death has been recorded, a southwestern Sydney man in his 90s who died at Liverpool Hospital yesterday.

He had received one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and is the 15th person to die as a result of the current outbreak.

Almost 14,500 Covid-19 vaccines were administered during the last 24 hours, with New South Wales Health administering a record 164,059 vaccines in the week ending on Sunday.

Next Monday, Qudos Bank Arena will start administering regional Pfizer vaccines to Year 12 students in the eight Local Government Areas of concern.

Premier Berejiklian said the reallocation of regional Pfizer shots to the students is the government acting in the best interest of public health.

“We know for 16 to 18 year olds, Pfizer is the only option and we wanted to make sure that not only are we giving them their opportunity to get their HSC and I think people understand that, but there are 8 million citizens in New South Wales, all of us are making a sacrifice,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“How the vaccines are allocated is not a decision that someone like myself would take,” she said.

“What is really important is for our health officials to do what they are expert at and that is to make sure we prioritise the vaccination rollout,” she said.

“Our priority is to get out of this lockdown as soon as we can,” said Ms Berejiklian.

Ms Berejiklian said a combination of case numbers and vaccination rates will determine if the current lockdowns will be lifted on August 31.

“It will be a combination of seeing where the case numbers are in a months time as well as the rate of vaccination that determines what August 31 looks like,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“Clearly when we get to five million jabs or when we get to 9.2 million jabs, which is the 70 percent number, we’ll be able to have a bit more freedom,” she said.