ACT vaccination rates lower than reported as figure includes NSW residents

According to the federal Department of Health daily COVID-19 vaccine rollout update, the ACT seems set to tip the half way mark for first doses with more than one fifth fully vaccinated.

But, the real figure is estimated to be significantly lower.

"About 10 per cent of that is actually people, probably from regional NSW, who are receiving their vaccinations in the ACT," ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said.

According to the latest available data from the ACT government, about 41 per cent of Canberra's actual population have received one dose and 16 per cent were fully vaccinated, as of July 14.

The ACT government had suggested a disclaimer be placed on the number reported by the federal government, after noticing the discrepancy last week.

The federal government has not yet responded to that suggestion.

The ACT government is working on the assumption there are 344,000 ACT residents over 16 eligible for vaccination.

The Northern Territory is leading the charge with 43 per cent of its population aged above 16 with one dose and 23 per cent fully vaccinated.

The ACT is keeping pace with Tasmania, which is coming in second place, where 43 per cent of the eligible population have had one dose and 19 per cent have had two doses.

Residents aged 30 to 39 can now express interest in getting the vaccine, in anticipation of eligibility expanding as more Pfizer supply arrives.

About 12 per cent of that age group in the ACT have already been fully vaccinated while 17 per cent have had one dose.

While people under 40 can't access Pfizer unless they are eligible under phase 1a and 1b of the rollout, the AstraZeneca vaccine was recently made more available to younger people.

In the ACT 5840 people under 40 have been vaccinated with AstraZeneca.

3755 were first doses and a further 2085 were second doses.

As the territory continues to respond to growing outbreaks of the Delta variant of COVID-19, the Health Minister has urged Canberrans to reconsider all holiday travel.

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Anyone who has travelled from South Australia to Canberra recently will also face stay-at-home orders from 11.59pm on Tuesday, after the state announced a seven-day lockdown.

Ms Stephen-Smith said urgent or important work travel could still proceed - but people needed to pay close attention to public health orders in the ACT and the area they were travelling to.

"If you're just travelling for leisure we would really, really discourage that at this point in time. If you do travel you make sure that you follow all the public health directions in the jurisdiction you're in," Ms Stephen-Smith said.

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