While there has been much debate around low vaccination rates in vulnerable Indigenous communities, a spokesperson for the Royal Flying Doctors Service says they’ve got enough jabs to service rural and remote communities right across the country.
Over recent weeks critical action has been taken to protect Western NSW communities with the RFDS running community-led vaccination programs, and assisting Aboriginal Medical Services to get vulnerable communities rapidly vaccinated.
Jenny Beach is the general manager for RFDS South-Eastern and says to date the service has delivered more than 20,000 COVID-19 vaccinations to remote communities around Australia, with approximately 45 per cent of all jabs going to First Nations people.
“The RFDS is working nationally with this, and so they’re looking at rural and remote communities right across the country,” she said.
“We have, from our perspective plenty of vaccines to get out there and do the job we need to do.”
Ms Beach said since the beginning of the vaccine rollout RFDS has been flying into these communities and vaccinating anyone eager to get the jab.
“The big benefit for us, was that we could say to the whole community, ‘we didn’t have 1a or 1b, or anything like that’, we just said if we’re going to that small community, then we’re offering it to the whole community, and that’s been very significant.”
