Australia’s coronavirus vaccine rollout began in late February. Here we bring together the latest figures to track the progress of the rollout and Covid vaccination schedule.
The data shows the total doses given in Australia, people vaccinated in Australian states and the percentage of the population who have received one dose or are double dose fully vaccinated, as well as graphs showing daily new Covid-19 cases in Australia, deaths per day and cumulative coronavirus cases by state and territory.
Vaccine rollout: national and state progress
One of the biggest logistical exercises in Australia’s history, the delivery of coronavirus vaccines to more than 20 million people has begun.
The government was initially hoping to have 4 million people vaccinated by March and the entire country inoculated by October. Since then, goals, targets and “horizons” have come and gone.
The most recent target from the government is in its Operation Covid Shield document, which suggests vaccinating 80% of the population aged 16 and over should be possible by December.
The federal government has also set double dose vaccination targets of 70% and 80% of the population aged 16 and over as the thresholds for phase B and phase C of its ‘National Plan to transition Australia’s National COVID-19 Response’ – essentially when it expects restrictions to ease, with reduced lockdowns and opening up of borders.
Here, you can see when we might be able to achieve these targets, based on the current average rate of vaccination, and assuming the current rate continues for the rest of the rollout.
This is obviously a very simple estimate of the time it might take, and will change as the vaccination rate increases or decrease.
Here you can see current vaccination levels and an estimate for when each state and territory will hit the 70% and 80% targets. The projection is based on the the average of the past week for the number of first doses administered, then taking the most recent interval between first and second doses administered in each jurisdiction, and adding this to the date of the first dose targets:
When might we reach the
70% and
80% vaccination targets if the current rollout rate continues?
Based on the current seven day average of second doses for each state or territory.
Here are the current vaccination rates for each state and territory, as well as the estimated dates for the 70% and 80% targets, using the same method as above:
The next chart shows the speed of vaccinations in the past 30 days for each state and territory, versus the national rate.
It is showing the number of new vaccination doses administered per day, adjusted for population differences to be a rate per 1,000 people. Then, it has been smoothed using a rolling 7-day average due to differences in reporting on weekends and data catch-ups in the national reporting.
It makes it very clear how outbreaks lead to large increases in the vaccination speed, with particularly obvious increases in NSW relative to the national rate:
The following chart shows how many doses have been administered per 100 people in each jurisdiction, over the whole course of the rollout.
Note that in this chart the number of vaccinations from the federal government-run parts of the rollout – GP clinics and disability and aged care – are counted only in the Australian total. This makes the Australian rate higher than the sum of the state rates, and is a point of difference to the chart above.
Vaccine rollout: maps of vaccination rate by area
The federal government releases weekly data for vaccination rates by statistical area 4 (SA4) regions. By comparing the rates from the first report on 1 August with subsequent reports we can see the areas with the biggest weekly percentage increases in vaccination, and biggest increases since the data was released.
You can use the dropdown menu to switch between showing the vaccination rate for each area, and the percentage change in vaccination rate for each area:
Here, you can see the same information in a table, which can be sorted by region name, state or the change in vaccination percentage:
Vaccine rollout: Indigenous vaccination statistics
Guardian Australia has been tracking the vaccination statistics for Indigenous Australians since August 2021. While Indigenous Covid vaccination rates have risen rapidly, there remains a large gap between First Nations people and overall vaccination rates in almost every state and territory.
These charts have switched to using Indigenous population data sourced from the Australian Immunisation Register instead of ABS population estimates. This means the percentages for some states have changed significantly, such as in Victoria.
Here, you can see national figures for the Indigenous vaccination rate over time compared with the overall vaccination rate, and the difference between the two:
This chart shows the latest rollout gap for each state and territory, with data updated weekly:
Vaccine rollout: vaccine production and distribution
Some of the reason for the differing vaccination rates is due to access and use. The following two charts show the vaccine distribution and estimated usage by states, territories, and primary care (run by the commonwealth). This data is updated weekly.
Vaccine dose usage is estimated by the commonwealth government, based on the total doses administered and allows for a small amount of wastage.
Vaccine rollout: international comparison
In the following two charts you can see how Australia’s vaccine rollout compares with other countries, in terms of doses administered per 100 people.
This first chart adjusts for the fact that countries started administering vaccines on different dates. It shows how Australia compares to select countries at equivalent points in their vaccine rollouts.
Here you can see how those same countries are doing across their entire vaccine rollout, on a doses administered per 100 people basis. Some are already more than halfway to vaccinating their populations.
Not all countries publish data on fully vaccinated people – those who have received two doses. Here you can see how Australia compares to OECD countries on the percentage of the population that are fully vaccinated.
Where can I get vaccinated?
The majority of Australians aged 18 and over are now eligible for a Covid vaccination if they are willing to consider the AstraZeneca vaccine, and provided they do not have a history of some specific health conditions.
In addition to the government’s official eligibility checker, which lists some clinics near your location which might have vaccination appointments available, there are a number of other helpful resources that can help you to find somewhere that has appointments open. You can find our page listing these resources here.
Latest Australia Covid numbers and statistics
This chart shows the “epidemic curve” for Australia, using a seven-day rolling average of daily cases. This will show any progress in “flattening the curve” and how effective various measures have been in suppressing the outbreak:
Here, you can see the number of new deaths reported per day by the states and territories:
This chart shows the cumulative total of confirmed cases, with the contribution of each state and territory:
Updates 17 September 2021
- Updates to how Indigenous vaccination statistics are presented, now using the 12+ population for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous
- We have changed the way we’re projecting second-dose targets, as outlined in the text above. We have temporarily removed the chart with state-by-state target progress and will replace it shortly with a new chart that uses the new method
Updates 11 September 2021
- Production and distribution section is back
- Removed hospitalisation percentage chart, this will be replaced shortly with a new chart that doesn’t use active cases
- Fixed the cases trend line to stop using the latest day which usually has incomplete data
Updates 6 September 2021
- Removed production and distribution section
- Added vaccination maps and tables for each area
- Re-added the table of rollout projections
Updates 29 August 2021
- Added Indigenous vaccination statistics
- Added ‘Where can I get vaccinated’ section, replacing ‘When can I get vaccinated’
Updates, 9 August 2021
- Retired the “gap tracking” version of the rollout chart, and replaced it with a new chart that tracks progress towards the government’s latest goals of 70% and 80% of the 16+ population
- Changed the summary box to remove the percentage of the population who have only received a single dose, and added the percentage of the 16+ population who are fully vaccinated to allow both international comparisons and progress towards the government’s targets to be clearer
- Removed the government’s projections of future vaccine availability as they’re not realistic
- Added a new chart showing the speed of vaccination by state and territories
- Due to the unprecedented and ongoing nature of the coronavirus outbreak, this article is being regularly updated to ensure that it reflects the current situation at the date of publication. Any significant corrections made to this or previous versions of the article will be footnoted in line with Guardian editorial policy.
