NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has put a concrete target on the number of vaccinations needed “to live as freely as possible” from September.
Speaking during her daily COVID update on Tuesday, the premier said she wanted six million jabs to have been given to residents by August 29 and at the current rate “we should get there”.
NSW recorded another 199 cases of coronavirus on Tuesday as the total number of cases in the outbreak stretches towards 4000.
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While 10 million vaccinations need to be given to ensure 80 per cent of the adult population is protected, Berejiklian said each milestone was important.
“Six million jabs is roughly half the population with at least one or two doses,” the premier said. “That gives us additional options as to what life looks like on 29 August.”
Berejiklian expects the state to reach four million jabs by the end of this week.
“Obviously we have the tight lockdown provisions. We also have the vaccine as our two main weapons of getting to a place where we can live more freely and certainly, that’s our aim,” the premier said.
“On August 29, we want to be able to ease restrictions. But that will depend on where case numbers are at and what the vaccination rate is at.
"‘Six million is the target’"
“So we’re looking forward to us getting more jabs. Six million is the target I want to set by the end of August. “
Berejiklian said efforts would be focussed on making sure residents in eight LGAs of concern - Blacktown, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Liverpool and Parramatta - “have the opportunity to get vaccinated”.
“As we all know life during a pandemic is not black and white,” the premier said. “But we know the fewer people infectious in the community gives us a better appreciation for what the virus is doing and the fact we won’t have another level of outbreak.
“Secondly having higher rates of vaccination does allow us to consider opportunities to have some level of activity increase - so the combination of reduction in case numbers but also higher vaccination rates gives us more options as to how our community can live as safely and freely as possible.”