Hawkesbury LGA cross 70 per cent first does vaccination threshold

Under the Federal Government's National Plan, which all states and territories have agreed to, once 70 and 80 per cent full dose vaccination thresholds are reached at a state-wide level, lockdowns and restrictions can be minimised and the country safely reopened for travel domestically and internationally.

Liberal Senator Marise Payne, Federal Macquarie MP Susan Templeman, State Hawkesbury MP Robyn Preston and Hawkesbury Mayor Patrick Conolly, all thanked the community for getting vaccinated.

Mr Conolly said that the Hawkesbury is doing a great job with the vaccination process.

"Our State and Federal leaders have been very clear that the way out of this lockdown is through vaccinations, and the people of Hawkesbury have responded to that call in a big way already."

Wentworth Healthcare, the provider of the Nepean Blue Mountains Primary Health Network, has been working closely with the Department of Health to support the local vaccination roll-out into general practices.

Lizz Reay, CEO of Wentworth Healthcare, said general practices have been working hard to vaccinate the community against COVID-19 on top of their normal everyday patient care.

"We estimate that over 173,000 vaccine doses in our region have been administered through primary care which includes general practices, Aboriginal Medical Services and GP-led Respiratory Clinics," she said.

"We have seen the community demand for COVID-19 vaccination increase since the June outbreak and it is fantastic to see that so many people in the Hawkesbury have rolled up their sleeve to receive their jab.

"Across our region we now have 92 general practices delivering COVID-19 vaccinations, with 21 of these located in the Hawkesbury. In addition, we have three GP-led Respiratory Clinics delivering vaccinations, one of which is located in the Hawkesbury.

"As more Pfizer vaccine starts to come on board from next week, we will see capacity and access to Pfizer appointments increase across our region, so I encourage those who have not yet booked an appointment to get onto the eligibility checker and to book their vaccination as soon as possible."

On September 3, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a new vaccine deal with the United Kingdom, which will see an additional four million doses of the Pfizer vaccine arrive in Australia. This comes on top of the 500,000 doses secured in agreement with Singapore.

The two agreements take Australia's supply of Pfizer for the month of September to over 9 million doses, more than the months of June, July and August combined.

As of September 7, the first dose vaccination rate for New South Wales is 75.6 per cent. The second dose vaccination rate is 42.7 per cent.