As Australia awaits preparations for the coronavirus vaccine, new figures suggest people are more than happy to be vaccinated.
Federal Health Secretary Greg Hunt says five-year-old vaccination rates are now outside the target of 95 percent coverage.
“Achieving our 95 percent target supports herd immunity to stop the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases,” Hunt said in a January 24 statement.
“These figures show that Australians have the ability and the will to lead the world in taking COVID-19 vaccines because they realize how important vaccination is and how it protects and saves lives.”
In the December quarter of 2020, Australia’s coverage rate for children aged five years rose to 95.09 per cent, exceeding the World Health Organization’s estimated international average of 86 per cent.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children at five years old have the highest vaccination rates in the country at 97.25 percent.
At the same time, Australia’s seasonal flu vaccination program continues to offer an increasing number of vaccines to Australians of all ages.
In 2020, the independent medical regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, released more than 17.6 million doses of seasonal flu vaccines to the Australian market.
Hunt believes it demonstrates the faith that Australians have in the TGA to provide expert advice and ensure the safety and efficacy of all vaccines provided to the community.
The TGA is expected to soon approve a COVID-19 vaccine for next month’s launch.
Meanwhile, no local farm-related cases were reported in Australia on Saturday.
Victorian authorities on Saturday reported on one new case related to the Australian Tennis Open, a man in his 20s who is not a player.
A further three non-players – two men in their thirties and one in their fifties – have meanwhile been confirmed to be highly contagious in the UK.
There are ten active cases related to the Open and 970 people linked to the tournament in quarantine.
In NSW, residents of dozens of suburbs are being asked to monitor possible symptoms of the coronavirus after viral fragments were detected at two wastewater plants.
NSW Health said its sewage monitoring program had recently detected fragments of the virus causing COVID-19 at the Liverpool and Glenfield plant in south-west Sydney.
Seven cases were recorded in hotel quarantine – three in Victoria, two in Western Australia and one each in NSW and the Northern Territory.
WA will reopen its borders to NSW and Queensland from Monday, although travelers will still have to secede for 14 days.
Colin Brinsden in Canberra