Why Australia’s reopening plan could leave kids exposed

Queensland’s Premier has been slammed for threatening Australia’s path out of the pandemic – but a major failing could prove her right.

Australia’s leaders have been quick to spruik plans to reopen the nation once we hit the 80 per cent vaccination target in the months ahead.

But attention is now turning to a number of major flaws hidden within the fine print.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk created a stir today by exposing one of those potential flaws, demanding more research from the Doherty Institute on the impact on kids under 12 if the country were to reopen once 70 to 80 per of eligible people are fully vaccinated.

At the moment, younger children are barred from the vaccination roll out, sparking fears among many, especially given the Delta strain appears to be hitting young people disproportionately hard.

Appearing on The Project on Thursday night, WHO advisory professor Mary-Louise McLaws told the panel it was a valid concern.

Mary-Louise McLaws

She said while the Delta strain did not seem to be deadlier than the original Alpha strain, at the moment, 0.6 per cent of all ICU admissions were kids, which the Queensland Premier seems to believe was “too high”.

“Certainly it’s more transmissible than ever before. And there is evidence that Delta picks on anyone who is unvaccinated and that is young adults and in the UK there’s plenty of evidence of this, and young kids,” Prof McLaws said.

“As young as five now in the UK. They’re very young kids. So to say it’s not as transmissible from child to child or child to adult is not yet well understood, so we have to assume with Delta that kids can become not just a case, but can become a source of infection.

“So I can understand why (Palaszczuk’s) concerned. She doesn’t want kids to now get sick, go to hospital, or become a source to others.”

Prof McLaws said we still did not have enough evidence on the Delta strain, as it was still in its infancy after emerging several months ago.

And she also called out the decision to base Australia’s reopening plan on modelling from the Doherty Institute only, especially given it was completed in the early days before the full impact of the Delta strain was known.

There are fears for Australia’s kids under the current reopening plan. Picture: Supplied

“What I’d suggest is we have one model that the whole nation is using as an idea of how to respond. And I don’t think ever before have we’ve relied on a single model,” she said.

“We have wonderful modellers around Australia and they’re all coming up with different answers and I would suggest that the authorities need to get all of the models together, all of the modellers in a room, to talk about probably a middle ground on how to include kids in the model and how to include kids in the plan.”

While that idea sounds potentially messy, Prof McLaws pointed out that the Doherty modelling was done “before they really got a handle on Delta”, meaning it wasn’t necessarily up to date.

Australia’s Covid crisis grows

Prof McLaws comments come after another concerning day for the nation, with NSW recording 1288 new cases overnight, and seven deaths.

Victoria also recorded 176 cases today, with Premier Daniel Andrews yesterday conceding that it was no longer possible to return to covid zero.

And Queenslanders remain on edge over a potential new lockdown, after a local family finally gave permission to be testing after previously refusing, after sneaking into the state from Melbourne.

Queensland’s chief health officer Jeannette Young previously announced that just one Delta case would be enough to plunge regions into a lockdown, and experts are concerned the children in the family, who are displaying symptoms, may already have infected classmates.