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Australia surges past UK, Israel, US in vaccine rollout
After a slow start, the latest vaccination figures put Australia in an enviable position in the global efforts to stop the spread of the pandemic.
Of the nearly 37 million vaccine doses delivered to Australians since the rollout began, more than half have been administered in general practice.
A greater proportion of Australia is now fully vaccinated against COVID-19 than in many countries that led the early stages of the global rollout.
This week, the percentage of Australians of any age who have received two vaccine doses overtook the UK for the first time since the vaccines became available, according to the data website CovidBaseAu.
It shows 67.26% of the entire population of any age fully vaccinated in Australia, meaning the country has now nudged past the UK proportion of residents (67.17%) who are fully inoculated.
Figures from Our World in Data also show the rate of fully vaccinated citizens in Australia increasing faster than almost anywhere else at these later stages of the program.
According to the figures presented on that website, Australia overtook the United States in terms of the proportion of its population vaccinated on 18 October. On 26 October, the country did the same to Israel, another nation viewed as an international forerunner in the vaccination rollout.
RACGP President Dr Karen Price said the figures represent another ‘great milestone’ in Australia’s vaccine rollout.
‘Facing the biggest health crisis in a century, general practices have stepped up to protect our patients around the nation and delivered almost 19 million doses so far,’ Dr Price told newsGP.
‘I couldn’t be prouder of general practice’s contribution in some very challenging circumstances.
‘Every vaccine hesitant patient reassured, every phone call taken from a confused public, every risk and benefit explained, every weekend GPs, nurses and practice staff have sacrificed to get the job done – they have all counted.
‘That’s why we are where we are today.’
According to the latest figures supplied by the Department of Health (DoH), there have been almost 37 million vaccine doses delivered to Australians since the rollout began earlier this year.
It already leaves Australia among the most highly vaccinated countries in the world, despite low coverage in some of the states that have not yet had any serious presence of the virus, such as Queensland and Western Australia.
Recent surveys suggest that vaccine hesitancy is now the lowest it has ever been.
However, there have been some signs the rollout’s momentum is finally slowing. The number of doses administered each day in Australia has dipped in recent weeks, with the daily rate exceeding 300,000 on a regular basis throughout September and the first half of October.
Nonetheless, the Our World in Data graphic suggests the vaccination rate is flattening relatively gently, which would indicate there is potential for the numbers to climb further.
According to most data tracking websites, the United Arab Emirates has the world’s highest overall vaccination coverage, with some reporting up to 99% of the country’s population has received at least one dose of a vaccine.
The DoH numbers currently focus on the overall percentage of vaccinations among the population aged over-16, with the latest figures showing almost 90% of that cohort now having had at least one dose.
The vaccine program only opened up to
12–15-year-olds in mid-September, but already more than seven in every 10 of that cohort has stepped forward to receive at least one vaccine dose.
Dr Price says the role of general practice in the rollout is set to remain for the foreseeable future in Australia.
‘As the daily numbers show, we’re nowhere near done yet,’ she said.
‘Whether it is for the booster program, or vaccinating even more Australians as they become eligible, we’ll be on the vaccination front line as we have been from the start.
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