Push on for south-west residents to get COVID-19 vaccinated

That puts the region only behind Bendigo (52.6 per cent) for the first vaccination.

In addition to that, 23 per cent of people aged over 15 have had their second jab.

That places the region in the top four for the state.

The Standard will include a free Vax-The-Nation poster in Thursday's print edition.

To date more than 12 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Australia. As the national vaccine roll-out continues to expand, The Standard is encouraging readers to show their support for increased COVID-19 vaccination in our community. Your free Vax-The-Nation poster features a striking illustration by Walkley Award-winning cartoonist David Pope, whose editorial cartoons appear in The Canberra Times and other newspapers published by Australian Community Media.

In June, ACM, the publisher of this masthead, launched its national Vax-The-Nation campaign on the front pages of its 14 daily newspapers serving the national capital and key regional population centres across NSW, Victoria and Tasmania. Australia's health experts agree that mass vaccination against COVID-19 is our ticket out of a life of snap lockdowns, outbreaks and cancelled plans.

Professor Mary-Louise McLaws, a professor of epidemiology, hospital infections and infectious diseases control at the University of NSW said it was imperative we keep ahead of the virus.

Vaccination was an "important responsibility". "It's like developing a wall," Professor McLaws, a member of the World Health Organisation's COVID-19 infection prevention and control guidance group, said.

"Getting the vaccine is not just a responsibility for your own health, it's a responsibility - and a gift - that we give to everyone we love and the whole community."