Call for school vax scheme to end mask mandate

The Premier has lashed Greg Hunt in the face-off over a mass vax program for schools, saying he won’t take orders from a “bloke who forgot to place an order for vaccines”.

Daniel Andrews has blasted Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt amid calls for a mass vaccination program for schools.

“Frankly, Victorians don’t take orders from Greg Hunt – a bloke who forgot to place an order for vaccines,” the Premier said on Thursday.

“We are out there doing the Commonwealth government’s work for them, the least they could do is not be lecturing us on how to get that job done.”

Mr Andrews said Victoria already had its own plan to vaccinate schoolkids, which Prime Minister Scott Morrison had congratulated him on.

“We’ve got arrangements in schools, we’ve run vax hubs and pop-ups in schools,” Mr Andrews said.

“I got a WhatsApp message from the Prime Minister like the day after I made those announcements, saying it was one of the best things he’s ever heard, it was terrific, ‘well done, well done’.”

It comes after Mr Hunt said a universal school-based scheme would be the “fastest way out” of Victoria requiring kids in grades 3 to 6 to wear masks for the rest of term.

But state Health Minister Martin Foley slammed his federal counterpart’s proposal on Wednesday night.

Earlier on Wednesday Mr Hunt said it would be hard for parents and children to grasp the fact that Victoria had taken a “different path” on masks to NSW and Queensland.

Victoria has argued the hardline stance on primary school children in years 3 to 6 is necessary until jab numbers significantly rise among that cohort, despite the state boasting a higher vaccination rate across the 5-11 age group than the northern states.

Almost 54 per cent of the 578,499 Victorian children in that age category have ­received one dose, compared with 47 per cent in NSW and 42 per cent in Queensland.

But Mr Hunt added: “If this is about vaccination rates, which as I say are some of the highest in the world, then the best way to turbocharge those school-based vaccination rates is with a school-based program.

“They know how to do it, they’re good at it, and they have additional capacity now that the pressure has come off in state clinics.”

Alex and Xavier look forward to ditching masks. Picture: Josie Hayden

Federal sources suggested that administering Covid-19 jabs in schools could lift rates by as much as 15 per cent. The state government had expected 80 per cent of primary school pupils to have received one vaccine dose by the middle of this month.

Former WHO epidemiologist Adrian Esterman, of the University of South Australia, backed Mr Hunt’s call.

Professor Esterman said it was critically important for the states to continue driving vaccination efforts. “Greg Hunt’s idea really should be adopted across the country,” he said.

“I’d feel much more confident dropping mask mandates with higher vaccination rates.”

University of Melbourne epidemiologist Nancy Baxter also supported the proposal, describing it as common sense.

“It’s absolutely a great idea. For some parents, it’s very challenging to get all the kids vaccinated, so making it easy and bringing it to the schools makes total sense,” she said.

Professor Baxter said she expected the junior mask mandate would not remain for long, expecting jab rates to ­increase by the end of term, but also flagging the rule could be scrapped because it risked being politically unpopular.

Felix and Oliver wearing masks to school. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Australian Education Union Victoria branch president Meredith Peace said the union continued to advocate for measures that helped ensure safe school environments.

“We encourage the state government to continue rolling out in-school vaccination pop-ups and sharing strong public health messages encouraging parents to get their children immunised against Covid-19,” she said.

Parents Victoria chief Gail McHardy said her organisation “questioned early in the vaccination rollout why existing school immunisation models were not implemented statewide for the students”.

“Schools and families are accustomed to this practice over many years and generations in state schools,” she said.

Australian Primary Principals Association president Malcolm Elliott said some schools would be in positions to have vaccination centres and would “do it very well”.

But Mr Foley slammed Mr Hunt’s proposal.

“Last year, we stepped in to fix the commonwealth’s failed vaccination program, and now we are having to do it all over again with state-run pop-up clinics and grants for primary care providers to provide ­­in-reach vaccination programs in Victorian schools,” he said.

“We want to see less talk and more action from the federal government, who are ultimately responsible for the national child-vaccination program.”

Mr Foley said Victoria needs to reach vaccination targets for children aged five to 11 in order to scrap mask rules for primary school kids.

With 45 per cent of five to 11 year olds yet to receive a first dose, Minister Foley has called on parents and carers to make time to get their children vaccinated.

“We’re yet to get to the double dose stage. So those kids in that age group, whilst they’re less prone to severe outcomes from Omicron, remain among the most under vaccinated groups in the country,” he said.

“That’s why the mask mandates from the chief health officer’s recommendation was adopted.

“Masks are a low intervention, high success form of slowing this transmission of the coronavirus.

“When those (vaccination) rates go up, other measures can come down.”

The Health Minister could not say whether primary school students would be wearing masks until the end of term one.

“These things are reviewed all the time,” he said.

“We’re bumping along at around 6000 to 7000 cases a day – over 2000 of those are at schools. It’s not an insignificant risk.”

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt says a school-based jab program is the ‘fastest way out’. Picture: Gary Ramage

The state government has implemented several initiatives to lift vaccination rates among children, including forest-themed areas at state hubs and pop-up clinics for vulnerable children at sites such as Melbourne Zoo and Scienceworks.

It also launched a $4m grants program to give GPs and pharmacists up to $6500 to deliver vaccines in schools.

School-based programs for other vaccines are in place only for secondary school students, who receive jabs for diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis, human papillomavirus and meningococcal.

Victorian opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said a greater effort was needed to engage parents to bring their children in for jabs.

Ms Crozier on Thursday said she agreed with health experts who have labelled the mask mandate as “silly” and “unnecessary”.

“What we don’t need is putting primitive measures like masks on kids. It is just ridiculous to have this in place when so many health experts are coming out and saying it’s unnecessary and it’s silly,” she said.

“What I’m hearing from parents is one sibling has a mask on, the other hasn’t and it’s setting up this tension amongst siblings. We don’t want that.

“We want kids to be going to school freely, to get back into that education setting having the face-to-face learning that they need…it’s not me saying that, it’s health experts and doctors that are saying this.”

Ms Crozier said parents needed more education and information about vaccination for children.

“There’s no reason to have masks on kids at this age when the risk is low to them,” she said.

“Anyone can transmit the disease. Anyone who is double or triple vaccinated can still pass the virus on. So let’s put some common sense measures in and let’s get our kids back in school, unmasked.”

At least 26,364 students and 2687 staff have caught Covid-19 since the start of term.

Health experts have widely criticised the masks mandate in select classrooms.