Outback Queensland leads the state in COVID-19 vaccination rates

Residents in the Longreach Regional Council area are being vaccinated this week. (

ABC Western Queensland: Ellie Grounds

)

Outback Queensland is set to be one of the first regions in the state to be vaccinated against COVID-19, despite the vast distances and sparse population. 

Already about 10 per cent of people living in the Central West Hospital and Health Service's (CWHHS) catchment — which covers towns like Longreach, Birdsville and Winton — have received the jab.

Across the state only about 1.4 per cent of the population has been vaccinated.

Longreach resident Kerrie McCracken has received the vaccine and said the process was smooth and painless.

"It was quite uneventful," she said.

"So for us to get it first, I think it's excellent."

CWHHS executive director David Walker said given the sparse population numbers in his health region, and despite covering 33 per cent of Queensland's land mass, it was feasible to immunise everyone at once.

The central west has recorded zero coronavirus cases throughout the pandemic.(

ABC Western Queensland: Ellie Grounds

)

Unlike other regions, the roll-out was not limited to priority groups, and residents over the age of 18 were eligible to be immunised when it was available in their town.

"I've got a really unique patch here where I have a small population spread really far apart," Dr Walker said.

Longreach resident Kerrie McCracken says getting the vaccine was "smooth and painless".(

ABC Western Queensland: Ellie Grounds

)

Dr Walker said a fair chunk of the region's vaccine-eligible population had already received it.

"We're aiming to get to all of those who need the vaccine and obviously who are eligible for the vaccine," he said.

"It's obviously difficult to say exactly how long it will be before we've got to everywhere, because there are places within our community where we partner with other organisations, like the [Royal Flying Doctor Service] for example, to get to some of those smaller, far-reaching communities."

Susan Dowling from Aramac was the third person in the central west to be vaccinated.(

ABC Western Queensland: Ellie Grounds

)

Dr Walker said his team will have to return to locations at the 12-week mark to ensure patients received their second jab.

“There's a lot of logistics that go into that, but that's our approach at the moment,” he said.

Yesterday, Chief Health Officer Jeanette Young made it mandatory that only doctors and nurses who had received their first round of the COVID-19 vaccination could work on positive patients after the emergence of recent cases in Brisbane linked to the PA Hospital.

Dozens of contact tracing alerts have been issued with locations spread as far wide as Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Gladstone and Toowoomba.