WA Police has two employees in Mid West-Gascoyne region yet to receive COVID jabs

Geraldton continues to boast some of the highest COVID vaccination rates in regional WA but there are two WA Police Force staff members based in the Mid West-Gascoyne district who are yet to get their jabs.

Police Commissioner Chris Dawson directed all police officers and staff members to be vaccinated against the virus by December 1, unless they had a medical exemption.

After the deadline, employees were required to show proof of vaccination and all who failed to comply with the directions were stood down from duty.

Mid West-Gascoyne District Supt Roger Beer said almost all police officers and staff working in the region had now had at least one dose of the vaccine, but two had refused to get the jab.

“I have got something like 260-odd people across the district and at this point, only two of those are not keen to be vaccinated, so we will work through that,” he said.

“But we are very pleased with the compliance we have got within the police overall.”

Supt Beer would not say if the unvaccinated persons were based in Geraldton or elsewhere in the region.

He said police had been working with communities across the Mid West and Gascoyne to encourage all residents to get their COVID jab as soon as possible.

As of December 13, about 80 per cent of Mid West residents were double vaccinated, with 92.1 per cent of the population having received at least one dose.

In Geraldton alone, about 95 per cent have had one or more jabs and 82.8 per cent are double vaccinated.

Vaccination rates remain significantly lower in Indigenous communities than the regional average, with 41.4 per cent of Aboriginal people in Geraldton double vaccinated as of December 15.

Just over 50 per cent of Aboriginal people in Meekatharra have received two doses of the vaccine, while just 38.3 per cent of the Indigenous population in Carnarvon are double vaccinated.