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SA residents least likely to agree vaccines will control COVID spread

South Australians are the least likely in the country to agree that vaccines can help control the spread of COVID-19, while only half of the state’s population is willing to get vaccinated as soon as doses are available, a new national survey reveals.

Feb 24, 2021, updated Feb 24, 2021
A vial of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Photo: AP/Jessica Hill

A vial of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Photo: AP/Jessica Hill

According to results from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey, released last week, less than three quarters or 73 per cent of South Australians agree that vaccines can control the spread of COVID-19.

That is compared to 77.5 per cent of Queenslanders, 79.5 per cent of people in New South Wales and 80 per cent of Victorian residents.

Of the remaining South Australians, 7.5 per cent disagree that a vaccine can help control the spread of COVID-19, while 19.5 per cent neither agree nor disagree.

New South Wales has the highest proportion of residents who disagree or strongly disagree that vaccines can control the virus spread.

The survey, which collected data from 3104 people across Australia in December, also found that just over half of South Australians – 53 per cent – would agree to get a COVID-19 vaccination as soon as it became available.

Nationally, Australians aged over 65 were more willing to get vaccinated and believe that a vaccine can control the spread of COVID-19 than younger Australians.

Men were also more willing than women to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

It comes as the state and federal governments roll-out South Australia’s first round of Pfizer vaccines aimed at high priority groups including frontline health workers, aged and disability care staff and residents, and medi-hotel and airport workers.

South Australia has now received 4000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine with another 8000 due to arrive in the coming weeks.

Data: Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey. Graph: Nicky Capurso/InDaily

Data: Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey.

Residents at Rembrandt Court aged care home in Oaklands Park were among the first in the state to get vaccinated yesterday.

Chief executive Deb Dutton said almost 90 per cent of the centre’s 89 residents had agreed to have their first shot.

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“Of those who don’t get it, half are medically not suitable and half just don’t want it,” she told reporters yesterday.

“Aged care residents are like the rest of the community, there are a range of opinions on these matters.”

The second phase of the rollout will begin next month with does of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

It will target the APY Lands, remaining healthcare settings and other essential services personnel.

That phase will also deliver the vaccine to older people over 60 years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people more generally and adults under 60 with underlying medical conditions.

The final phase will be the broad rollout of the Novavax vaccine from September, subject to successful trials and approvals.

Data: Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey. Graph: Nicky Capurso/InDaily

Data: Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey.

Premier Steven Marshall and Chief Public Health Officer Professor Nicola Spurrier told reporters this morning that South Australia’s vaccine roll-out was going “extremely well”.

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