Murray River Council nearing 100 per cent first dose

MURRAY River Council (MRC) is close to having 100 per cent of its population immunised with a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

As of September 12 they are the local government area with the highest rate of vaccination in New South Wales, with 93.6 per cent of residents aged over 16 having had their first dose, and 62.6 per cent having had their second dose.

Mayor Chris Bilkey said the community was rolling up its sleeves to support the region’s second biggest economic driver: the visitor economy.

“People have recognised that the way to close the disconnection to the Victorian border is to have the highest vaccination rate, so we can open up,” he said.

“We’re a border community so I think that most people recognise our future will depend not just on us reaching vaccination targets, but on the ability for us to have cross-border visitation and business.”

To date, MRC has not recorded a single COVID-19 case and Cr Bilkey said the vaccine was the LGA’s method to “keep it that way”.

“We hear of cases happening in regional Victoria, and New South Wales, and we want to protect ourselves against that,” he said.

“We recognise that the economy relies on mainly visitation from Victoria, and the number one way for the MRC community to protect itself is to have a high vaccination rate.”

Cr Bilkey said while the majority of residents had their first or second dose, the rates weren’t as high in the smaller townships.

“We’ve undertaken some work with local pharmacies in Moama and Barham to do outreach in those smaller communities with pop ups,” he said.

“Mathoura is the first one, we’re doing more in Barham and Moulamein, and Tooleybuc, and have the potential to do it in Murray Downs.”

On July 16 the Murray River Council held a meeting to discuss the Victorian and New South Wales border closures’ impact on businesses, with the decision made to launch a $100,000 campaign to promote the region.

Cr Bilkey said with both states being plunged into lockdowns, the funding was set aside in a reserve.

“That campaign was going to be directed at getting people out of Melbourne into our LGA,” he said.

“Once the border closed, the point of that campaign was lost and it couldn’t be executed.”

He said the funding would be used when NSW could reopen to Melburnians.

“One of the things we’ve also done is deploy the electronic road signs across the LGA to encourage people to get vaccinated,” Cr Bilkey said.

“There are a lot of people laying idle at moment, and we just want to get the message out there for people to get it.

“For those delaying getting their vaccine until more Pfizer is available, we encourage them to still start making appointments with general practitioners and hospitals, as soon as possible.”