But make no mistake: hesitancy is ultimately harmful.

Researchers at the Burnet Institute in Melbourne say Australia is unlikely to achieve herd immunity (in which the virus peters out because not enough people catch it and then re-transmit it) while the current levels of reluctance remain.

There may be some understandable reasons for reluctance. This week health authorities have recommended that people under 60 should be offered an alternative to the AstraZeneca vaccine, an increase from under 50.

On the latest figures, about one-in-five adult Australians have been vaccinated. Another half of the population want to be vaccinated. But that leaves around a quarter who don't want to be vaccinated or who don't know whether they do. Some may wrongly imagine that they can keep themselves isolated from further outbreaks. But, as Melbourne knows, the virus will keep coming back.

Some may also see it as a matter of personal freedom. This, though, is an irresponsible and wrong-headed argument. Our personal freedoms are often curtailed for the greater good of society. The government needs to do all it can to remove the legitimate doubts.

A return to true normality demands more vaccination.

In other news, George Politis has been remembered as a man who worked hard for his treasured family and his beloved Warrnambool community.

Mr Politis, 93, and his wife Helen were a fixture of Liebig Street where they owned the popular Warrnambool Seafoods for 56 years.

A Warrnambool mum has thanked the community for their support to rebuild her home after it was destroyed by fire.

Alicia Franklin and her three children Kayleigh, 11, Darci, 7, and Jae, 5, were left homeless in November 2019 when her dream home was burnt.

The family was forced to live in a motel for a week, a caravan park for two weeks and a small rental.

Warrnambool police say the search for missing woman Ethel (Rosie) McLean is continuing and have urged anyone with information to come forward.

Ethel, from Timboon, went missing on Thursday, June 10 and has not been sighted since.

A Facebook group has been set up called Find Rosie McLean and Bindi with community members sharing maps and roads they have searched.

Warrnambool City Council has reversed its poor showing in last year's community satisfaction survey, improving all seven core measures.

The council took a major tumble in the annual survey last year with the community's scorecard marking the city down in all areas including a rating of just 42 on overall performance - a sharp fall from the 56 it scored in 2019.

It comes as reinstated Warrnambool City Council chief executive officer Peter Schneider will resume his role this week.

Mr Schneider said he had a conversation with the mayor Vicki Jellie and they agreed he would be back at work as the CEO on Monday.

The popular Warrnibald Prize is set to return to the Warrnambool Art Gallery after the COVID-19 pandemic forced it go online last year.

The non-acquisitive, open-entry prize - run jointly between the Warrnambool Art Gallery and WDEA Works Warrnambool - aims to foster community spirit and celebrate people who have contributed to a culturally rich and diverse community.

A new family violence service is on track to open in Warrnambool later this year.

A Family Safety Victoria spokeswoman said a lease had been signed and recruitment was under way for The Orange Door network service to open in Warrnambool.

The network is a free service for all ages and backgrounds to seek help and support for family violence, as well as families in need of support with the wellbeing and development of children.

Home owners are being urged to have empathy and rethink their leasing arrangements after a Warrnambool mother was forced to split her family up in order to keep a roof over their heads.

The mother, who wished to remain anonymous, said her two children and two teenaged dependents were living across multiple homes in Warrnambool and Port Fairy after they were asked to leave their last rental property due to it being sold.

An offshore wind farm proposed for Discovery Bay has been met with concern from a nearby resident while a Portland lobby group is eyeing potential jobs.

The project, revealed in The Standard this week, has applied for state and federal government approvals for up to 62 turbines to be built in the sea in a location between Cape Bridgewater and the South Australian border.

Callum Bridge's passion for hockey runs deep and he's being acknowledged for his efforts both on and off the field.

The 17-year-old (pictured above) has just been named a Hockey Victoria men's country team train-on member and his school has also nominated him for the Australian Olympic Change-Maker program.

From working in war-torn countries or those ravaged by pandemics, there is not much that Robert Bennoun hasn't seen during almost four decades of working overseas.

When COVID swept across the world last year, Mr Bennoun was able to catch the last flight out of Thailand and has been in Warrnambool ever since - the longest time he has spent in the city he grew up in since he left to work in the refugee camps of Thailand in the early 1980s.

Bodybuilder Jade Carr admits it has been difficult keeping her motivation high and her eyes on her goals throughout multiple coronavirus-enforced lockdowns.

But the motivation to score a better result at her second WBFF (World Beauty Fitness and Fashion) competition and to achieve her goals helped her push through.

A Warrnambool financial firm has appointed its first woman as a partner among three new faces bringing a youthful change to leadership.

Leela Egan-Halls, who started as an admin assistant four years ago and now is a business manger, is the first female partner in 35 years of SHB Business & Wealth Advisers.