NSW residents aged 16-39 will be able to book in for a Pfizer vaccine today after the government secured over half a million extra doses of the jab.  

Those who live in the 12 LGA’s of concern in Sydney’s Covid-hit west and south west will be given priority access to 530,000 Pfizer doses at a number of NSW Health clinics from 9am on Wednesday. 

Over the next two weeks residents will be invited to book in at one of ten participating government clinics to receive two doses of the Pfizer vaccine. 

NSW residents aged 16-39 who live in Sydney's 12 LGA's of concern will be able to book in to secure two of the 530,000 extra doses secured by the federal government

NSW residents aged 16-39 who live in Sydney’s 12 LGA’s of concern will be able to book in to secure two of the 530,000 extra doses secured by the federal government

Those that are eligible for the jab must be aged between 16-39 years of age and reside in Bayside, Blacktown, Burwood, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Liverpool, Parramatta, Penrith or Strathfield.

The vaccination blitz for young people in Sydney’s worst Covid-hit areas is designed to drive down transmission in those hotspots.   

The 12 LGA’s of concern

Bayside

Blacktown

Burwood

Campbelltown

Canterbury-Bankstown 

Cumberland

Fairfield

Georges River

Liverpool

Parramatta

Penrith

Strathfield

‘We know there are several hundred thousand people in these LGAs who are unvaccinated in this age group, and this is a great opportunity for them to come forward and get their jab,’ NSW Health Deputy Secretary Susan Pearce said in a statement on Wednesday.

‘We’re doing everything we can to get doses into arms and I’d like to thank our local health districts for their mammoth effort.’

The entire state is locked down with tight restrictions but authorities are concerned that 70 per cent of transmission is occurring in homes but the likelihood of household transmission is reduced by about 50 per cent by three to four weeks after vaccination. 

NSW Health administered a record 36,817 Covid-19 vaccines in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday and the total number of vaccines administered in NSW is now 5,237,678 with the state aiming for six million by the end of the month.

Meanwhile, Deputy Premier John Barilaro says the government is ramping up vaccination efforts in western NSW with 116 Covid cases there and concerns about vulnerable Indigenous communities.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service and ADF troops are working with NSW Health to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible at pop-up clinics.

‘It is already in those communities and this is what is concerning us,’ he told the Nine Network on Wednesday.

‘The mobility in those communities, the shared homes, the houses, we know that with Delta most of the infection is happening in somebody’s home or visiting somebody.

‘I expect it to spike and I expect it to continue to be a problem and that is why we locked down all of regional and rural New South Wales because it was the only way we could contain this,’ he said.

Mr Barilaro admitted that mistakes had been made with the Sydney lockdown that began eight weeks ago.

‘Well, look, I think if you can rewrite history we could have gone harder.

‘It wasn’t that we didn’t do it hard and fast, but the Delta strain has escaped us. We don’t want the same in the bush,’ he said.

Meanwhile, NSW Health has tried to clear up confusion about whether people are allowed to visit cemeteries with some now closed for graveside visits.

Under the public health order, cemeteries are not required to close and attending a funeral or memorial service is a reasonable excuse to leave home, with a maximum of 10 people allowed to attend in Greater Sydney.

A NSW Health spokesperson said people were also permitted to leave home for compassionate reasons.

‘In certain circumstances, such as an anniversary of a dead child, or where a close family member has recently died, visiting a gravesite would be considered compassionate,’ the spokesperson said.

Health Minister Brad Hazzard has acknowledged hospitals are ‘under enormous pressure’ as the outbreak that has locked down Sydney for nearly eight weeks worsens.

But he insisted that overall the system was ‘still extraordinarily good’.

BreastScreen NSW announced on Tuesday it would suspend all routine breast screening across NSW because of the outbreak.

NSW reported 452 new local Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, and the death of a woman in her 70s.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned the case numbers would get worse and that September and October would be ‘our most difficult months’.

A number of schools have been forced to close in recent days because of outbreaks.

WHERE YOU CAN BOOK IN TO GET A PFIZER VACCINE

Residents aged 16-39 in the 12 LGA’s of concern will be able to book  appointments for two doses of the Pfizer vaccine from 9am on Wednesday at nsw.gov.au for the following clinics: 

 

 

 

 

 

More to come. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk