Victoria has become the third Australian jurisdiction to hit the 80 per cent double-dose COVID-19 vaccination mark, following on from New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.
With the 80 per cent mark reached, the Commonwealth hotspot declaration for all LGAs in Greater Melbourne came to an end at 11.59pm on 31 October.
The important 80 per cent double-dose vaccination mark is expected to be reached nationally in coming days. The first-dose national figure now stands at more than 88 per cent.
Of the other Australian jurisdictions, four – Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory – have double-dose rates above 60 per cent. Tasmania’s is now above 70 per cent.
The first-dose vaccination rate for people aged 70 and over now exceeds 99 per cent, while the figure for second doses has passed 90 per cent.
Double-dose vaccination rates are also high for people aged 50 and over (86 per cent) and those aged 60 and over (more than 87 per cent).
Vaccination rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is lower, at just over 64 per cent first dose coverage for people aged 16+. All vaccination sites and channels are encouraged to consider ways to prioritise vaccination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Primary dose coverage should also continue to be prioritised over booster doses.
More than 35 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered across the country.
Supplying and producing the vaccine
The ability to manufacture vaccines onshore has been essential to the progress of our rollout and CSL has now manufactured and supplied 23,018,100 doses of vaccine for use in Australia.
Last week, 3,488,940 doses of Pfizer, 1,749,700 doses of Moderna and 518,500 doses of AstraZeneca were released for distribution.
Over the coming days, the TGA will conduct sample testing of 231,660 doses of Pfizer vaccine, 536,900 doses of Moderna vaccine, along with 530,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine produced onshore by CSL, prior to releasing the vaccines for distribution.
Distributing the vaccine
With support from our Distribution Partners DHL and Linfox, more than 1,915,516 vaccine doses were delivered across Australia to metropolitan, rural and remote locations, along with 3,259 deliveries of consumables.
- Ordering and Delivery. 99.05 per cent of vaccine orders were completed last week with 30 order of Pfizer, 0 order of Moderna and 0 orders of AstraZeneca to be finalised today.
- Australia’s assistance to the Pacific. The week commencing 25 October 2021, another 1,045,000 doses were delivered to our partners in the Indo-Pacific. The Vaccine Access and Health Security Initiative (VAHSI) website lists the countries who have received doses shared by Australia.
Administering the vaccine
This week, 1,350,781 doses were administered across the country, taking the total number of doses administered 35.7 million. It took 45 days to reach our first million doses of vaccine administered and 6 days for the most recent.
- Total sites. This week we had a total of over 5,604 general practices, 137 Commonwealth Vaccination Clinics, 3,416 Pharmacies and 169 Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services delivering vaccines, along with 957 state and territory sites, taking the total number of vaccination sites across the country to 10,238. Next week, we will have 7 additional general practices joining the program (commencing with AstraZeneca and Pfizer).
- Pfizer doses for community pharmacies. The week commencing 25 October saw 931 Pfizer doses ordered for delivery to community pharmacies the week commencing 8 November 2021.
