City of Ballarat falling behind counterparts in vaccination rates

In the first round of statistics to break down vaccination rates by local government area, the City of Ballarat ranks 26th in fully vaccinated rates at 39.7 per cent, but just 45th in first dose rates at 58.9 per cent.

In comparison, Greater Bendigo is slightly ahead of the City of Ballarat in both metrics with 40.7 per cent of its population fully vaccinated and 62 per cent having received their first dose. Greater Geelong is also ahead at 41.4 per cent and 63.8 per cent.

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Deakin University chair of epidemiology Professor Catherine Bennett said vaccination rates were driven by a variety of factors, including age and job security.

"I think it's going to be a combination of awareness about immediate risk of virus versus still sitting back. It will be a bit about the age mix, how long people in the community and what proportion of people have been eligible for long enough to actually get the vaccine," she said.

"We also see a relationship with education levels and a range of other things as well so that might also just be a slightly different mix in some settings."

Strong rates continue through the south-west of Victoria, as the Borough of Queenscliffe leads the state in both first dose recipients and fully vaccinated residents, while at the other end of the tally, the City of Melbourne has the lowest first dose rates in the state and the fourth lowest rate of fully vaccinated residents.

Closer to home, the City of Melton has the second fewest fully vaccinated residents and sixth lowest first dose rates.

Moorabool Shire ranks 50th of the state's 79 council areas in first dose rates and 64th in fully vaccinated rates, Hepburn Shire ranks 21st in first dose rates and 12th in full vaccinations, and Pyrenees Shire ranks 36th in first dose rates and 30th in full vaccinations.

Professor Bennett said areas with a greater concentration of retirees were often allowed more time to organise vaccine appointments, whereas the inner suburbs or growth areas were home to many young people who were not even eligible until recently.

"People are aware you might have a day or two where you feel under par... but for some people just trying to plan for when you might be sick for a day or two, just makes it something you put off, but the reality is if you get virus, it puts you off work for longer than the jab will," she said.

"You have a lot of casual workers and they are the people that aren't covered for sick leave so that can be a problem, trying to find the time off work. It's good for testing, you actually can have cover if you get a test and have to wait for the result to come back or if you go into quarantine because you're positive, but we don't have a similar thing for the vaccine, unfortunately."

Committee for Ballarat chief executive Michael Poulton said supply still needed to be improved so more age groups could be vaccinated 'en masse'.

"The important thing is all of regional Victoria is continuing to get vaccinated and the numbers keep getting higher. The overwhelming message then has to be that it's still about supply and that we need more long-term security of supply so that we can keep getting people with vaccinations in arms wherever they live," he said.

"The 16 to 19 year olds and, hopefully very soon, the 12 to 16 year olds are critical population groups... and that's why we need more supply so that we can surge the vaccination campaign in a town like Ballarat to ensure that we've got the capacity to deliver vaccines to 12 to 19 year olds en masse."

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