A Bizarre ‘Vaccination Olympics’ Competition That Asks Sydneysiders Wearing a torn jersey and posing for selfies while doing jab has been ruthlessly mocked.
Deputy Health Secretary Susan Pearce announced the new initiative during Tuesday’s COVID update, as the state achieved its target of six million COVID vaccines.
Ms Pearce announced that NSW Health will partner with major Sporting Code to keep a ‘light-note’ when it comes to seizures.
The health secretary urged anyone with concerns about the 12 LGA to follow rugby league, rugby union, soccer, basketball or netball to wear the colors of their favorite team at vaccination centers on Sunday.
A strange ‘Vaccination Olympics’ competition in which Sydneysiders are asked to wear footy jerseys and take selfies while receiving jabs has been ruthlessly ridiculed (pictured, a woman exercising in Sydney’s eastern suburbs earlier this month) )
Deputy Health Secretary Susan Pearce (pictured) announced the new initiative during Tuesday’s COVID update, as the state hits its target of six million COVID vaccines
“Sporting Codes will announce a competition to see which Code can complete the most vaccinations,” she said.
‘It feels like the Olympics of vaccination to us at the moment.
‘We’re looking forward to people doing whatever it takes to get those doses up in arms and we’re looking forward to seeing everyone have a little fun while they’re at it.’
Ms Pearce encouraged sports fans to take a post-jab selfie in front of ‘selfie walls’ set up in vaccination centers to encourage others to roll up their sleeves.
Social media users took to Twitter to scoff at the strange initiative in which the winners will compete in the ‘Vaccination Championship Cup’.
‘It feels like six fundraisers a year. “Wear your team’s colors” *Cringe*. But hey, if it works… great!’ A man wrote.
‘To get vaccinated, wear your team’s colors to enter the competition. Are we in a Black Mirror episode?’ Another user asked a question.
A third commented, ‘Good gimmick: Wear your sports team colors to your wax appointment at the State Hub over the weekend, and NSW Health will count the numbers to determine which sporting code is best.
The fourth wrote, ‘Lol “To vaccinate wear your team colors and take a selfie on the selfie wall.”
NSW Health will partner with major sporting codes of states to determine how many fans of each code are vaccinated (pictured, a goose fan at an AFL match in May)
Social media users poke fun at the bizarre ‘Vaccination Olympics’ on Twitter
One NSW resident compared the initiative to living in a Black Mirror episode, a television series featuring characters living in a dystopian world.
An unaffected Twitter user described the vaccination campaign as a ‘gimmick’
Residents of the 12 LGA, who follow rugby league, rugby union, soccer, basketball or netball, are encouraged to wear their favorite team colors at vaccination centers on Sunday (pictured, fans of NRL team St George’s Dragons in April)
Ms Pierce also revealed that the number of bookings for the Pfizer jab made by people aged 16-39 at the concern’s 12 LGA was close to reaching 300,000.
The Department of Health has previously voiced its intention to vaccinate 500,000 people in this age group over the next two weeks.
He said disability and childcare workers living in 12 LGAs of concern will now have priority access to a job.
Ms Pearce reiterated that bookings are available later this week at the massive vaccine hubs at Kudos Bank, Sydney Olympic Park and Macquarie Fields.
‘Like we said earlier in the week, we still have over 200,000 spots available for people in those 12 LGAs. Don’t be late,’ she said.
It comes as NSW reported 753 new locally acquired cases of the virus on Tuesday as the premier announced that 60 per cent of the state has had at least one jab.
32 per cent of the state’s population has taken a single dose on Monday with 48,761 vaccines.
“I am very happy and grateful that there are 6 million jobs in New South Wales,” Ms Berejiklian told reporters on Tuesday morning.
Of the 753 new cases, 134 are linked to a known cluster, 108 are domestic contacts and 26 are close contacts.
The source of infection is being investigated in 619 cases, and no deaths were recorded in the 24 hours to 8 pm on Monday.
The Deputy Health Secretary reiterated that bookings are available for this weekend at the massive vaccine hubs at Kudos Bank, Sydney Olympic Park and Macquarie Fields (pictured, people queue for vaccines at Homebush)
It comes as NSW reported 753 new locally acquired cases of the virus on Tuesday, as the premier announced that 60 per cent of the state had at least one jab (pictured, A-League grand final match between Melbourne City). Had fans of Melbourne City in Sydney FC in June)
The NSW Deputy Health Secretary revealed that the number of bookings for the Pfizer jab made by people aged 16-39 at the 12 LGA of concern was close to reaching 300,000 (pictured, a woman who attended the Kudos Bank vaccination center last week) was in line for a jab)
Seventy cases were in isolation during their infectious period and 22 were in isolation for part of their infectious period.
There are 608 Covid-19 cases admitted to the hospital, with 107 people in intensive care, 34 of whom require ventilation – none of them fully vaccinated in the ICU.
12 local councils of concern west of the city woke up to their second day on Tuesday with even more stringent restrictions, which include a curfew and a one-hour exercise limit.
Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant selected Auburn, Maryland, Yaguna, Guildford, Bankstown, Punchbowl and Blacktown as particularly worrying suburbs with rising number of cases.
But Ms. Berejiklian thanked people in those suburbs, especially residents of Blacktown, for booking the jobs.
‘We’ve seen that Blacktown has one of the lowest vaccination rates among the highest in the state,’ she said.
Data published by the federal government on Monday showed that areas of western and south-west Sydney are growing the fastest in the country with vaccination rates.
In Blacktown, 64.8 percent of people aged 15 and older have now received a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, an increase of 11.2 percentage points a week.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian (pictured) said she was ‘delighted and grateful’ six million NSW residents came forward to get a jab during a Tuesday morning COVID update
After registering 47.7 percent vaccinations last Monday, Parramatta followed up with just over 58 percent of the vaccine doses.
The premier also said that many organizations are likely to implement vaccination requirements in order to use their services in the future.
“NSW has developed technology that allows us to test and show our vaccine in one go,” he said.
‘My message to all is that if you want to get back to normalcy, get your vaccine.
‘It’s your choice if you don’t, but we can say in the strongest possible terms that if you want to do certain things then vaccination will be important as part of that process.’
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