OVER 95 per cent of people aged above 15 in Swan Hill Rural City Council’s local government area (LGA) have had their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, an effort that has drawn praise from Swan Hill’s health service, pharmacies, and the mayor.
Swan Hill District Health chief executive Peter Abraham said the vaccination performance made Swan Hill one of only three council areas in Victoria to hit this milestone and reflected a “a fantastic effort and contribution from our local community”.
“We encourage everyone to get their vaccinations to continue to better protect themselves and their loved ones,” Mr Abraham said.
The second dose rate was also set to increase over a number of weeks, Mr Abraham said, with 58 per cent of the population fully vaccinated.
But, due to the majority of clinics being Commonwealth-run, there would be a difference in how quickly rates would rise.
“Our second dose rate will not increase as quickly as state-run clinics due to the difference between dose intervals and guidelines,” Mr Abraham said.
“However, both vaccination rates are looking great for our region, and we look forward to celebrating more milestones in the near future.”
Rick Kent, co-owner of Priceline Pharmacy Swan Hill, said the milestone was “huge for the community” and that Swan Hill LGA residents should feel proud.
“We have a lot of people coming in for their second dose, and if we can keep up the rate we’ve set for our first dose, it will just be fantastic,” Mr Kent said.
“We offer AstraZeneca and Moderna, and we’ve had an incredible amount of bookings for Moderna this week, and the whole month.”
Mr Kent said it was encouraging to see tradespeople come in for vaccination, as the Victorian Government had set mandates for certain industries.
“The closer we get to 100 per cent, the closer we can protect everyone in the community – and the vaccination is free.”
Zoe Lazarou, co-owner of Maraboor Pharmacy, said vaccination appointments were “booked out most days” and there had been a great turnout for both AstraZeneca and Moderna.
“It’s been a real mix of people coming in – we’ve had children over 12 as well,” she said.
“And we strongly encourage people to get their second dose, it’s really important.
“When people have their first vaccination we make the effort to book them in for their second vaccination.
“All the staff have been doing their best to provide this service – they’ve done a great job.”
Swan Hill Mayor Bill Moar said it was encouraging to see many people coming forward and hoped the trend would continue when people went in to get their second dose.
“Council’s official position has always been that we encourage people to get vaccinated, but recognise it as an individual choice,” Cr Moar said.
“We’re hoping that when this trend follows on in four to six weeks we will see between 70 and 80 per cent second- dose statistics.”
Mr Moar said as a rural region notable for agriculture, the local government area had many people who had an innate sense of disease management, as it related to livestock or crops.
“So when something like this virus comes along we just say, right – how can we mitigate it, what can we do to eradicate it?
“You look at somewhere like the City of Melbourne, where they only have 68.3 per cent of their population vaccinated – it’s really something, you’d think somewhere with high-density population levels they would be on to it, but they just don’t have the same mind-set.
“At the very start we had many of our senior residents, those over the age of 70, really out there getting vaccinated and now with Delta, which is more infectious, we have a lot more people across the board rolling up their sleeves.”
**breakout**
How and where to get vaccinated
Swan Hill District Health: To book an appointment, visit shdh.org.au/our-services/covid-19-vaccination.
Priceline Pharmacy Swan Hill: Walk-ins are welcome or people can book online at priceline.com.au.
Marraboor Pharmacy: Appointments need to be booked in person, by phone or at www.marraboor.com.au.
