16.7 per of Central West residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19, 40.4 per cent have had first dose

Figures from NSW Health show 16.7 per cent of people in the Central West are fully vaccinated against the virus and 40.4 per cent have had their first shot of either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccination.

That positions the region well against the national vaccination rate of about 16 per cent but Western NSW Local Health District chief executive Scott McLachlan said it was no time to rest on our laurels.

While Mr McLachlan said about 1000 people a week were being vaccinated at vaccination hubs in Western NSW, he would like to see vaccination rates double what they are at the moment.

"We know that it will take some time to get to that stage. We know that through September and October there will be a much bigger supply of both Pfizer and AstraZeneca and some of the other vaccines that are coming into the country," he said.

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"We've stepped in quickly to make sure we've got a guaranteed supply of around 1000 doses of Pfizer over the next month that we will continue to deliver vaccination to both the people who have had one dose and need the second dose and any other priority groups.

"We know that the general practice, Aboriginal Medical Service and respiratory clinic private providers have access to a good supply of Pfizer."

Meanwhile, the Bathurst community has been assured there is no cause for alarm after a positive COVID case appeared in the region's figures.

The positive case has been included on NSW Health's online map of confirmed COVID transmissions, making it the second positive case in the Western NSW Local Health District alongside the Blayney factory worker who contracted the virus after coming into contact with an infected truck driver.

Unlike an incident last month where a positive COVID case had been wrongly reported in Bathurst due to a data entry error, a health district spokesman confirmed on Tuesday that the new case had been correctly logged.

But the infected person was not currently in Bathurst and had not been in Bathurst throughout their infectious period. Instead, it was a person linked to the Sydney outbreak who had been in Sydney the whole time they had been carrying the virus.

The case was listed in Bathurst's figures because the person has a residence within the region and that is the protocol used by NSW Health for recording positive cases.

"There are no active cases of COVID-19 in the Bathurst region," a WNSW LHD spokesperson said.

"There is one case listed in the Bathurst LGA on the NSW Health COVID case map because that person has an address in western NSW.

"That person resides in Sydney and has not been in western NSW since 2020."

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