As of Sunday, the city had reached a vaccination rate of 75 per cent for over 16 year olds.

Bendigo Health chair Bob Cameron said bookings over the next few weeks showed the rate should top 90 per cent by the end of the month.

Read more news:

"The good news is we are going to get to 90 per cent (with a first dose)," he said. "It is a sensational result.

"Originally, we had no idea when we would get to this point and ultimately, it was dependent on supply. We would have been in this position a few months ago if we had plenty of supply.

"But what we know is we are booked up for the next four weeks - with only few hundred spots in the next month available for over 16 year olds - that's why we are able to project what we are able to do.

"Working on the logic everyone is coming back, six weeks later we will have 90 per cent (of over 16s) doubled vaccinated - around the middle of November."

Mr Cameron said hitting the milestone would be important in helping protect the health system from being overrun.

"When you think about Shepparton, a couple of handfuls of people (were infected) and 500 staff from the hospital had to be furloughed because they knew someone who knew someone," he said.

"The problem we have in country Victoria, in every town and city, is people know people. So when you have outbreaks, you can expect large slabs of health staff to not be able to work. For people with non-life threatening surgery, they get pushed down list.

"What we have to do as a community to protect the health system is get that (vaccination rate) figure as close to 100 per cent as possible."

Read more:

Bendigo's vaccination rate is among the highest in the state along with Geelong and Warrnambool.

Mr Cameron said the race wasn't about who got to 90 per cent first, but who could get closer to a vaccination rate of 100 per cent.

"Bendigo, Geelong and Warrnambool are all in a race as to who is going best in Victoria," he said.

"But the question is not where we are in the race now but how far we will run. Our quest has to be to get as close to 100 per cent as possible. The true winner will be who gets as close to 100 as possible."

As Bendigo edges closer to 100 per cent, it will help reduce concerns around coronavirus.

"Every per cent we go up, it reduce concerns. But it, doesn't eliminate them," Mr Cameron said. "The closer we get to 100 per cent, the better off we will be.

"Hopefully we get to more than 90 percent and it means that, hopefully, we won't have lockdowns in Bendigo."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: