Vax and the City: Every public health official in Australia agrees that mass vaccination is the only way out of this crisis. We at Time Out recommend that you get vaccinated as soon as you can, if that is appropriate for your own health. Please speak to a medical professional about what is right for you. Here's what you need to know about how to get a vaccine right now.
As Australia wrestles with the relentless threat of the Delta strain, the nation’s beleaguered vaccine rollout has come under intense scrutiny. As Sydney’s lockdown has proven, lockdown strategies and contact tracing alone are no longer able to suppress such a transmissible variant of the virus. Both the prime minister Scott Morrison and NSW state premier Gladys Berejiklian have cited the percentage of the adult population vaccinated as the new key metric guiding the easing of restrictions – Morrison has said that when 70 per cent of adults are jabbed, lockdowns can be retired, while Berejiklian has floated 50 per cent vaccination coverage as being the golden figure for easing Greater Sydney’s lockdown settings.
But just how close are we to meeting these targets? An online global, real-time vaccination tracker – covidvax.live – is keeping tabs on the numbers so you can keep your finger on the pulse as Australia inches closer to the percentages we need to finally regain some normality in our lives. Particularly handy, the tracker also follows trends to estimate when the nation will reach Morrison’s crucial 70 per cent target, which at the time of publication of this article was early December, although trend data also shows vaccination rates are accelerating in Australia. If you're curious about how Australia compares to other countries, you'll also find tracking data for countries all over the world. Unfortunately, the platform does not offer state-by-state breakdowns, but you can find that information via the federal government's daily vaccination report.
Australia’s vaccine rollout has been mired by shifting eligibility criteria, limited supplies and miscommunications about side effects leading to heightened vaccine hesitancy. All adults in NSW are now eligible for a vaccine and can access the jab at pharmacies, vaccination hubs and GP surgeries.