SHEPPARTON’S response to the recent COVID-19 outbreak has been outstanding and commended by Australian leaders.
Given our stellar response, the Member for Northern Victoria Region, Wendy Lovell, has called on the Government to prioritise and increase vaccination capacity for the local community.
Ms Lovell’s call comes as the Federal Government released the latest vaccination data which showed that of the ten regional cities Greater Shepparton ranked ninth, well behind leaders Warrnambool, Geelong, and Bendigo.
The Warrnambool LGA leads Victoria’s regional cities on second vaccination doses, with 49.1 percent of the population fully vaccinated. Greater Geelong ranks second of fully vaccinated people at 46.6 percent while Greater Bendigo ranks third with 46.2 percent of residents fully vaccinated. In comparison, just 36.8 percent of Greater Shepparton residents are fully vaccinated.
Speaking in State Parliament last week, Ms Lovell said it was no coincidence that Greater Shepparton lags behind on the vaccination rankings with its state-run vaccination facility only operating Monday to Fridays between 9am – 4.30pm with some extended hours on Tuesdays and the occasional operation on a Saturday. In contrast the Bendigo and Geelong facilities were both administrating vaccines seven days a week and the Warrnambool vaccination facility operated six days a week.
“We need to increase our vaccination rate, and I call on the State Government to increase the hours at Shepparton’s state-run hub to operate every Saturday and Sunday until we reach the target of 80 percent of the Greater Shepparton population fully vaccinated,” said Ms Lovell.
(Editors note: Figures quoted by Ms Lovell MP were current at the time of her address to State Parliament last week, the graph below shows more up to date figures which were sourced as The Adviser went to print.)
