Every Hunter council area now has a double-dose COVID vaccination rate above the NSW average, but Newcastle appears unlikely to reach the 95 per cent milestone.
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Federal Department of Health figures published on Monday show Newcastle local government area's double-dose rate for people aged 16 and over has crept up from 90.8 to 91.7 per cent in the past week.
The single-dose rate has grown barely at all, from 93.9 to 94.1 per cent, leaving Newcastle as the only Hunter LGA yet to pass 95 per cent.
Postcode data show Mayfield, Shortland, Waratah, Georgetown, Tighes Hill, Carrington and the inner-city are the only parts of the Hunter with vaccine coverage below 90 per cent.
Hunter New England Health public health controller Dr David Durrheim said "prolonged, lingering" case clusters in Newcastle's under-40 population likely were due to its lagging vaccination rate.
"In the surrounding areas it's up to 93, 94, 95 per cent, which is fantastic," he said.
"We're seeing more primary school outbreaks in the Newcastle LGA as well.
"It's a real call-out to young parents to make sure you don't let your kids go to school if they've got even the mildest respiratory symptoms and ... make sure you get vaccinated."
Cessnock has double-dose coverage of 93.4 per cent, up half a percentage point in a week, and Muswellbrook's has increased from 91.7 to 93.5 per cent.
Every other Hunter LGA has an adult full vaccination rate beyond 95 per cent.
But a relatively low 82.4 per cent of the Hunter's 15-and-over Aboriginal population is fully vaccinated, according to figures published on Wednesday last week.
The NSW vaccination rate has risen from 91.1 to 91.86 per cent in the past seven days, and single-dose coverage stands at 94.4 per cent.
Three quarters of all children aged 12 to 15 in NSW are fully vaccinated. Single-dose coverage has shifted only slightly to 81 per cent.
Case numbers continue to fall across the Hunter.
The region recorded only 10 new infections in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday, including seven in Newcastle, two in Lake Macquarie and one in Port Stephens.
HNEH reported 30 new cases, but 20 were outside the Hunter in Moree Plains, MidCoast and Narrabri.
The health district has 10 COVID-19 patients in hospital, including three in intensive care units.
Dr Durrheim said places of worship had also been sources of case clusters, especially in Newcastle.
"We strongly urge church leaders to make sure in places of worship where we get mixing of vaccinated and unvaccinated people in an indoor environment mask wearing is absolutely essential," he said.
NSW reported 180 new cases on Monday and one death, an unvaccinated woman in her 50s at Campbelltown Hospital.
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