A POP-UP vaccination clinic at the Kelso Community Hub has had a positive impact on Bathurst's first dose vaccination rate, which is now above 80 per cent.
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The clinic was led by the Orange Aboriginal Medical Service, with the help of the local health district, to make the COVID-19 vaccines more accessible to people in the community.
"We've got to be mindful that a lot of our people who live in low socioeconomic areas do not have transport, so to get into town would be difficult for them. We encountered the same thing in Orange," Orange Aboriginal Medical Service CEO Jamie Newman said last week.
"We need to be able to sometimes bring the mountain to Mohamed, so having it here right in the heart of Kelso allows for walking distance for community members here."
The Kelso Community Hub provided vaccines from September 13 to 17, following on from a highly successful Australian Defence Force (ADF) pop-up clinic at Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre that saw more than 4000 shots put into arms.
Member for Bathurst Paul Toole said the Kelso Community Hub surpassed the target that had been set for it.
"The aim was to get to 800 jabs at Kelso over the week and that was achieved last Friday afternoon," he said.
"I especially want to pay tribute to NSW Health, the volunteers from CSU (Charles Sturt University) and Jamie Newman from the Orange Aboriginal Medical Service who helped drive this outstanding result."
The ADF clinic proved that pop-up vaccination hubs, where people don't need to make a booking, have the desired effective of boosting vaccination rates in communities.
Prior to the clinic at BMEC, 67.3 per cent of people in Bathurst aged 15 and older had received their first dose.
A week later that figure had gone up 10.3 per cent.
The second dose rate had climbed more than five per cent during the same period.
Figures published late Monday afternoon show that 82.1 per cent of people in Bathurst aged 15 and older had received their first dose as of September 19.
The percentage of people fully vaccinated is 46.3, up 6.1 per cent from the previous week.
The NSW Government has said that having 80 per cent of the state's population fully vaccinated will allow the state to open up again.
As of September 18, the NSW vaccination rate for the first dose was 82.2 per cent, and 52.7 per cent had been fully vaccinated.
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