Concerns expressed in Grafton over school start date with lack of vaccination supply

While Queensland delays the school start date by two weeks, NSW will continue to ‘push through’. But will our children’s safety be compromised? One Grafton pharmacist outlines his concerns.

Southside Grafton Pharmacist Michael Troy said the lack of supply of Covid vaccination shots for five to 11 year-olds makes the decision to delay school in Queensland by two weeks, totally understandable.

“Even if we were able to do every child, aged five to 11 by the start of the school term, they will only have had the one shot because the turnaround is eight weeks before their second dose so they’ll only be half vaccinated at most.”

Supply is unavailable

They have a pharmacist available to administer the vaccine, but no supply.

“Realistically our turnaround for starting vaccination is going to be the end of January, February which is the start of the school term.

“We will be lucky to get a couple of days of vaccinating done before the NSW return to school date,” he said.

“So I can absolutely understand the delay for the return to school for Queenslanders.”

Despite NSW continuing to push through as Queensland delays, a spokesman from the NSW Department of Education stated the health and wellbeing of staff and students was a priority.

“The Department is working closely with NSW Health to finalise school settings for the start of the new school year, and detailed advice for Term 1, including the use of Rapid Antigen Home Tests, will be made available to school communities shortly,” the spokesperson said.

Word on the streets

Meanwhile the mood on the streets of Grafton about the return date was mixed, but the concerns were so personal that most people did not want to go on the record and nobody wanted to be photographed.

One mother of four said she thinks the children should have had a chance to be double vaxxed.

Another parent said she received a flyer in her letterbox titled ‘Have you considered all the facts?’ but was getting her children vaccinated regardless.

Jason Mawock said he was not particularly concerned that the NSW start date remains unchanged but he felt the requirements for vaccinations for school attendance were not clear.