Victorians are being urged to book in a booster as uptake in the booming outer suburbs sits at just 30 per cent as the state recorded 10,053 daily cases.
Victoria has recorded 10,053 new cases and eight deaths, as the uptake of the Covid booster shot has been slowest so far in Melbourne’s booming outer suburbs.
As seven out of ten residents are yet to come forward.
Only 38 per cent of Victorians have had received their booster, while 93 per cent had been double-jabbed.
A total of 873 people are fighting the virus in hospital, 102 in intensive care and 33 on ventilators.
The Herald Sun can reveal uptake of the third jab has been the slowest in Hume, where only 26 per cent of the 177,817 residents aged over 18 have received it.
As of midnight Saturday, the booster vaccination rate was 29 per cent in the local government areas of Melton, Melbourne and Whittlesea.
While barely one in three in Brimbank, Casey, Cardinia, Dandenong, La Trobe and Wyndham have had a booster.
The national expert immunisation panel is soon expected to finalise its advice on whether the third dose should be compulsory for people to be considered fully vaccinated.
In Victoria, the booster shot is already mandated for essential frontline workers in industries including healthcare, emergency services, education, quarantine and food distribution.
But Daniel Andrews is pushing to extend it across the state’s vaccinated economy, in a move that would make the booster a condition of entry at public places including pubs, restaurants and major events.
Victorians have been able to get their third dose three months after their second shot at state-run vaccination hubs since January 19. From Monday, the three-month time frame will also apply at GP clinics and pharmacies.
As of October 31, 80.34 per cent of Victorians aged over 16 were fully vaccinated — totalling 4.3 million people — while 91.72 per cent had received one Covid jab.
About 38.7 per cent of Victorians over 18 had received three Covid vaccine doses by Sunday.
Data obtained by the Herald Sun reveals booster rates are lagging in outer suburban areas where residents were slower to receive their first two doses, in part because of a younger demographic and an initial lack of vaccination sites compared to other parts of Melbourne.
The Queenscliffe area had the highest rate of residents who had received their booster shots at 68 per cent.
At least half of people over 18 in the local government areas of Bayside, Boroondara, Central Goldfields, Hepburn, Mount Alexander and the Surf Coast have also received their third jabs.
The Premier said last week that there was a “very strong argument” to require the booster shot as a condition of entry, although the state government is yet to explain how this change would be implemented.
“People can safely assume that this would be a continuation of the current settings. It won’t be that there will be a whole new area that we try to cover,” Mr Andrews said.
“It just makes sense to me that if that’s good for two doses, and the experts tell us that three doses really is critically important than those rules would logically apply for three doses.”
“That’s not done yet … but I think it’s fair to assume that it’ll be very, very similar. Where two is to get a green tick, it’ll be three.”
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said he would not pre-empt the expert immunisation panel’s advice. He encouraged all Australians to get the third dose, but said it would be up to the states and territories to determine if that would be an extra requirement.
For all the latest Covid-19 News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
