Over 50,000 residents across the Western NSW Local Health District have been vaccinated in under two months thanks to a team of about 70 Australian Defence Force personnel.
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This is just one of several examples of the support the personnel have offered to NSW Health and NSW Police across the region since the ADF was deployed to assist in combating COVID-19, according to Australian Defence Force NSW COVID Task Group commander, Colonel Warwick Young.
Orana Mid-Western Police District Commander, Superintendent Danny Sullivan said the work the ADF has provided the whole region has been "invaluable".
Superintendent Sullivan and Colonel Young gathered at the NSW RFS Training Facility which has acted as headquarters of the Region Emergency Operations Centre where they have been coordinating with local emergency management committees in response to the pandemic.
"NSW Police have been working closely with the ADF in relation to the well being of compliance of those unfortunate enough to have contracted the virus," Superintendent Sullivan said.
"We're very pleased that over 20,000 welfare and compliance visits have been undertaken with the NSW Police and ADF to ensure our community has been well and truly looked after."
We're very happy to be here and we will continue to be here for as long as we're required.
- Australian Defence Force NSW COVID Task Group commander, Colonel Warwick Young
Colonel Young said defending your country didn't always mean you were overseas or you had a weapon in hand.
"Sometimes it is making the other citizens of your community feel safe and secure and providing support to the other government agencies," he said.
"We've had contact tracers, our vaccination outreach teams that in Western NSW completed a phenomenal achievement.
"Out of 270,000 people in this region, they have been able to vaccinate 55,000 which if you consider, has been done by a team of about 70.
"We have been providing care packs to those in need who are in their homes in isolation, doing the right thing.
"We also have our teams out there doing wayfinding at vaccination centres. We're very happy to be here and we will continue to be here for as long as we're required."
Colonel Young said the role of the ADF had been to help fill a gap and provide support.
He said if he was to make an assessment, parts of the region, like Orange, would have gotten to the high vaccination rates on their own, but the ADF has definitely played a vital role.
"Would they have gotten there as quickly? Probably not," Colonel Young said.
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