Australia has been urged to dramatically boost Indigenous vaccination coverage with a leading human rights group warning of an impending disaster.
Coronavirus has seeped from Sydney to regional NSW including towns with high Aboriginal populations where Indigenous people are being infected.
Australia-wide, almost 31 per cent of Indigenous people over 16 have received one vaccine dose, while 16 per cent are fully vaccinated.
That lags behind population-wide figures of 50 per cent for a first dose and 28.2 per cent with two jabs.
Human Rights Watch Australia researcher Sophie McNeill is concerned lessons about vulnerable populations are not being heeded.
"The federal government and New South Wales authorities left First Nations people dangerously exposed to COVID-19 with limited access to vaccines," she said on Friday.
"Australia's federal, state, and territory governments should not repeat the failings in NSW and should urgently improve vaccine access and health care for Indigenous communities."
Indigenous Australians were made a high-priority group in the nation's vaccine rollout which is well behind schedule.
The federal government has pointed to pockets of vaccine hesitancy among some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people while also acknowledging efforts should be increased.
Military and medical emergency teams have been dispatched to western NSW to increase jab rates.
Australian Council of Social Service chief Cassandra Goldie believes vulnerable populations may need higher vaccination coverage than 80 per cent to be protected.
"We know high-risk groups are being left behind in the vaccination rollout," she said.
"People of diverse backgrounds, First Nations communities and people with disability are some of those most at risk of the virus and being left behind in the vaccination rollout."
Dr Goldie said up-to-date weekly data was needed to show local vaccination rates and population groups including Indigenous people, country of birth, language spoken at home and disability.
"When it comes to setting targets, we can't just say, for example, that we need to get to 80 per cent vaccinated, full stop," she said.
"This would leave a serious risk that groups of people most at risk have vaccination rates far lower than the national rate, leaving them exposed to the ravages of COVID."
