Governor-General backs vax campaign

He holds the nation’s highest office, and today Australia’s Governor-General has thrown his support behind the #vaxtheillawarra public health campaign which aims to make the Illawarra the country’s first region to be 80% vaccinated.

Having grown up in Wollongong, attending Port Kembla High School before embarking on a distinguished military career which saw him rise to be Chief of Australia’s Defence Forces, His Excellency David Hurley and Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley have joined other high-profile ambassadors in support of the ambitious pro-vaccination push.

“The quickest way for all of us to be able to resume many of the things we enjoy doing is for everyone who is eligible to be fully vaccinated. That’s why Linda and I want to help shine a light on the #vaxtheillawarra campaign,” the Governor-General said.

The #vaxtheillawarra public health campaign was launched in late August by Australia’s greatest Olympian and Wollongong-born swimmer, Emma McKeon, and the Illawarra’s world champion UFC fighter, Alex Volkanovski.

“We thought we’d landed the biggest coup of the year when Emma McKeon and Alex Volkanovski agreed to launch our public health campaign,” #vaxtheillawarra creator and former Wollongong Citizen of the Year, Vicki Tiegs OAM said.

“We are absolutely over the moon that Australia’s number one citizen has reached out to his hometown and we feel humbled and honoured that he has backed our grassroots public health vaccination public health campaign.

“We’ve had a phenomenal response in our first week from dozens of high-profile ambassadors from every imaginable walk of life, and the momentum is building.

“We know the journey to freedom is a challenging one. Our simple message in this first phase of the campaign is to put your name down and register to get vaccinated. We expect an increase in supplies later this month and that’s when we’ll move to phase two and ramp up our campaign activity.”

The latest official data shows the Illawarra is 61.9% first dose vaccinated and 40.0% fully vaccinated and that ranks the region 28th across the nation’s 89 health districts.

People can find out where they can get vaccinated on the www.vaxtheillawarra.com.au website.