Western Sydney residents urged to be ‘vigilant’ as COVID-19 Delta strain cases hit the region
By Indigenous communities reporter Nakari Thorpe
NSW’s COVID-19 spotlight has turned to Western Sydney, where authorities are concerned about an increase in cases as the state grapples with a worsening Delta variant outbreak.
Concerns are also increasing for Western Sydney’s large Indigenous population if the virus continues to spread.
Clinical team leader Kylie McCauley from the Greater Western Sydney Aboriginal Health Clinic in Penrith is urging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to get vaccinated.
“This Delta strain is so much more virulent, she said. “On a personal level, I’m very concerned about it.”
The health service provides GPs, health checks, chronic disease programs and drug and alcohol services to about 8000 Indigenous and non-Indigenous patients across Penrith, Mt Druitt and the Blue Mountains.
It’s one of the Aboriginal community-controlled health services across Australia administering the Pfizer vaccine, with 240 doses delivered last week.
All Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 16 and over are now eligible to access a COVID-19 vaccine.
“If it’s in place like Rooty Hill and Mt Druitt where there’s a really high Indigenous population … we need to vaccinated as many people to protect ourselves and the community,” Ms McCauley said.
But Ms McCauley said her service is still battling fear and hesitancy about vaccines in the community, particularly AstraZeneca.
Though with Pfizer now being administered at the clinic, Ms McCauley said there has been a much better uptake.
She’s concerned how a prolonged lockdown could impact the high-risk, vulnerable community.
“It would mean more people are out of work which is then going to have a roll-on effect on our lives — financially, socially, emotionally — we’re all at risk of losing a loved one from this,” she said.
“A lot of people [in our community] live from day to day let alone week to week.
“We have to take whatever steps we can to try and get through this.”
