A Goondiwindi pharmacist says there's been a "surge" of vaccine-hesitant people coming forward to get COVID-19 jabs after three locally acquired cases were detected in the town.
Key points:
- There's a surge of people who delayed their second dose returning to be fully vaccinated after cases in Goondiwindi
- Two of the cases were unvaccinated, while one had a single dose
- Community leaders expect case numbers in southern Queensland and northern NSW to continue rising as contact tracing occurs
Two of the cases, announced yesterday, were not vaccinated while one had received their first dose.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said one of the unvaccinated cases had been in the community for five days, but all of their household contacts had tested negative.
The partially vaccinated case was in the community for four days.
Pharmacist Emma Conway said the cases have left residents in the border community "frightened".
"People who were hesitant about getting the vaccine initially have seen the value in [it] now," she said.
"And then a lot of people who had delayed their second dose who have come back to see us.
"The number was overwhelming."
The Goondiwindi region has the highest COVID vaccination rate in Queensland with 81.5 per cent of residents fully vaccinated and more than 90 per cent partially vaccinated as of October 31.
Ms Conway said those numbers were comforting but still left some community members unprotected.
"Personally, I was feeling quite safe and secure … but definitely feeling quite nervous for anyone who hadn't had their first vaccine," she said.
"It felt a little bit like [COVID] wouldn't get to our little town, but now it's here."
Bracing for more cases
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has tightened the border rules with New South Wales, after some of the cases were found to be linked to gatherings in Moree.
From 12:01am, Friday November 5, Moree will be a restricted border zone area, meaning residents will longer be allowed into Queensland except in exceptional circumstances.
Authorities are also monitoring a positive COVID case in the border town of Mungindi, which is linked to Moree.
Balonne Shire Mayor Samantha O'Toole said it was a young, unvaccinated person living on the NSW side of the town.
"We have a strong connection in the Balonne Shire, through our Indigenous people, to northern New South Wales," she said.
"It's not unusual at the moment for those people to be travelling down into the Moree area and back.
"It is quite concerning to us at the moment."
Cr O'Toole said she expected more cases would be detected in the region in the coming days as contact tracing occurs.
"This is something, as Queensland, as we're all going to have to get used to, I suppose," she said.
"It's a real mindset change from where we've been over the last couple of months.
"We need to be more resilient about this, we need to recognise that cases are going to happen and we need to keep moving forward.
"I'm really encouraging people to go back to some of those practices that we had last year — make sure you are checking in so you can be contact traced, make sure you're sanitising, and using social distancing as required."
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