Victorian health officials have warned certain groups of people are now the most at risk as the state prepares to further open up.
Young people living in certain parts of Melbourne are of particular concern to Victorian health officials who warn the “pandemic of the unvaccinated” is ongoing.
Victoria reported 1510 new locally acquired coronavirus infections on Tuesday after authorities said two-thirds of the new cases recorded each day were yet to receive a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
On Tuesday morning, about 91 per cent of Victorians older than 16 had received one shot of a vaccine, while 75 per cent were fully vaccinated.
The state’s Covid commander Jeroen Weimar said this week that particular areas of concern were Wyndham, where 96 per cent of the new cases aged under 40 were not fully vaccinated, and Hume, where 97 per cent under 40 were not fully vaccinated.
There are at least 1972 active infections in Wyndham and 2058 in Hume, according to Victorian government figures, making them two of the hardest hit LGAs in the state.
However, vaccination rates have skyrocketed in both of those areas: in Wyndham, more than 95 per cent of people aged over 16 have had at least one dose of a Covid vaccine and in Hume that figure is just below 94 per cent.
The inner city LGAs of Port Phillip, Yarra and Melbourne have the lowest first-dose rate of vaccination at 79.1 per cent, 76.3 per cent and 74.1 per cent, respectively.
“For your protection, and the protection of those you love around you, get the vaccination job done over the coming days,” Mr Weimar said on Monday.
About 500,000 people aged over 12 in Victoria are not protected by any vaccine.
“It is that half a million that we really want to focus on now,” Mr Weimar said.
“They are the ones who are far more likely to be caught up in our daily case numbers and far more likely to end up in hospital in intensive care.”
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has said coronavirus restrictions will be further eased from Friday when the state is expected to hit an overall 80 per cent double dose vaccination target.
Originally published as Health officials say certain groups of Victorians are most at risk of Covid
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