Despite the high vaccination rates in the town,only one of the new Queensland cases,a woman in her 30s,had been vaccinated – with one dose of AstraZeneca. The other cases,a female teenager and a woman in her 20s,were not.
Two of the group had spent four and five days infectious in the community,respectively,with contact tracers working to identify any other links.
In the Moree Plains council area,centred around the namesake town about 150 kilometres south of the border,76.4 per cent of the population aged over 16 are fully vaccinated and 86.6 per cent have had one dose.
All but one NSW border zone councils with reported vaccination rates have surpassed 70 per cent coverage,with a number now beyond 80 per cent. Many are above 90 per cent with first doses.
In border-hugging Queensland council areas that regularly report vaccinations,all but Goondiwindi – including the Southern Downs,Scenic Rim and Gold Coast – have second-dose rates below 65 per cent.
However,Indigenous vaccination rates across larger statistical regions along the border show coverage more than 10 percentage points below the general population. The situation was similar in NSWas of mid-October.
Queensland Health would not be drawn on whether any of the new cases reported on Thursday were Indigenous,citing patient confidentiality.
While Ms Palaszczuk urged residents of the south-east corner and other regional areas with lagging vaccination rates to get the jab as the state’s reopening dates approach,she also flagged concern about Indigenous communities.
She said her Labor counterparts in Western Australia and the Northern Territory would also be raising the issue with the Commonwealth atFriday’s national cabinet meeting – the first in a month.
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Visiting Cairns in the state’s far north,Health Minister Yvette D’Ath echoed the worry. There,the First Nations vaccination rate is more than 30 percentage points below the general population.
In an attempt to counter misinformation about the vaccines,Ms D’Ath said authorities were working with communities to determine which local,expert,or popular figures were best to cut through.
“My concern is people are so focused on what the vaccine might do that they’re forgetting what the virus will do,” she said.
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