Fewer than 8% of Australian adults fully vaccinated four months into rollout
Fewer than 40% of Australia’s oldest and most vulnerable citizens have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 more than four months into the rollout, new data shows.
The federal health department released detailed data on Thursday on the status of Australia’s vaccine rollout.
It shows 6.11 million people over the age of 16 (about 30%) have had a single dose and just 1.63 million people, or 7.92%, were fully vaccinated.
The data, which breaks down vaccination by age and gender, shows full vaccination rates are still below 40% for all age cohorts in their 80s and 90s.
About 35,000, or 67.1%, of those aged 95 and over have received a first dose and 20,311 (38.4%) have received a second dose.
Full vaccination rates for the 90-94, 85-89 and 80-84 age brackets were 29.8%, 20.2%, and 15.7% respectively.
The data also shows a continued low rate of two-dose vaccination for those aged in their 50s and 60s, compared with the younger cohort of people aged in their 40s – which can be explained at least in part by the 12-week wait for a second dose of AstraZeneca, which is recommended for those over 60, and until recently for those over 50. The two Pfizer doses are generally given only three weeks apart.
Australia’s vaccine rollout began on 20 February. People over 50 have been eligible for vaccination since 3 May.
About 105,062, or 6.7%, of Australians aged 50 to 54 have received both doses, and 34.3% have received a first dose, while about 99,425 (6.4%) of people aged 55 to 59 are fully vaccinated. The figures are worse for those aged in their 60s.
About 90,000 people, or 6.3%, aged 60 to 64 have received both doses, while 71,314, or 5.7%, of people aged 65 to 69 are fully vaccinated.
First dose numbers for those aged in their 60s are stronger. About 48% of those aged 60 to 64 and 56.3% of those aged 65 to 69 have received a first dose.
The proportion of those in their 70s who are fully vaccinated was only marginally higher than those in their 40s, although many more of the older cohort (eligible for AstraZeneca) had received their first dose than those in their 40s (eligible for Pfizer).
Full vaccination rates for the 75 to 79 and 70 to 74 cohorts were 13.6% and 12.1% respectively. The rates for the 45 to 49 and 40 to 44 age brackets were 12% and 10.4%.
The gender split is fairly even across the age cohorts.
For those aged 95 and over, about 69.2% of women have had a first dose, and 61.8% of men. In the 90 to 95 cohort, 71% of both men and women have received a first dose. A slightly higher proportion of men aged in their 70s and 80s have been vaccinated than women. A higher proportion of women in their 40s, 50s and 60s have been vaccinated compared to men.
Hassan Vally, an epidemiologist and associate professor in public health at La Trobe University, said the percentage of those 60 and over who were fully vaccinated should increase substantially in coming weeks due to the time lag between the first and second doses of AstraZeneca.
“The positive spin on this is that we’re going to see a huge increase in fully vaccinated people who are older when we just tick over that interval between first and second dose,” he said.
Thursday’s data did not provide a breakdown for the various cohorts within phases 1A and 1B of the rollout – such as front-line health workers and aged and disability facility staff and residents.
The rate of vaccination among some of these groups, including paramedics in Victoria and the aged care sector, is also low.
The Victorian government prioritised vaccinations for paramedics after the rate of vaccination was revealed and the federal government has changed its guidelines for aged care staff to make vaccination mandatory.
Vally said he believed the government wanted to release more data but there were technical and privacy issues.
“Everyone has been wanting more information and more transparency can only be good,” he said. “If people have the information, they can track how things are going and they can just have more confidence.”