Remote kids to be protected against Covid-19

Kids in remote communities will have first dibs on Covid-19 vaccinations.

ABORIGINAL children aged 5-11 years will be the first to access the Covid-19 vaccination according to experts.

Following the Therapeutic Goods Association’s (TGA) provisional approval of vaccinations for children aged 5-11 the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance NT (AMSANT) said remote communities must have first dibs.

AMSANT chief executive John Paterson said the Territory and Federal government need to prioritise Aboriginal children due to their underlying conditions.

“Some of our children have significant health problems including early onset diabetes and rheumatic heart disease,” he said.

“Although most kids don’t get very sick with Covid-19, our children will be more at risk because of the higher rate of underlying health issues.”

Health Minister Natasha Fyles said the department would continue to work closely with AMSANT to vaccinate Territory kids in remote regions but remote kids would be the first priority. “Children aged 5 – 11 in our remote communities will be at the front of the queue when it comes to rolling out the vaccine to this demographic, because we know how vulnerable Aboriginal Territorians are in the fight against Covid-19,” said Ms Fyles.

Covid-19 Vaccination sits ready to be administered for people as soon as they come in to Sunrise Barunga Clinic. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

“We have worked quickly on all aspects of the vaccine rollout to date, and we will update Territorians when bookings come online for 5 – 11 year olds.”

Mr Paterson reiterated the Doherty modelling — which the NT Government used to inform their recent remote vaccination strategy — clearly showed vaccinations for 5-11 years olds were critical to preventing the spread of Covid-19 in remote communities.

“The modelling showed this was an important inclusion for our communities because of the higher proportion of children and young people in the population compared to non-Aboriginal population,” he said. “The median age of Aboriginal people in the NT is 26, whereas for non-Aboriginal people it is 34 – that is a big difference.”

While many Aboriginal communities currently have above 70 per cent first dose rates, the inclusion of 5-11 year olds could account for up to 40 per cent of the overall population.

This means the vaccination rollout will need to be rapid in these areas if we are to keep everyone safe, said Mr Paterson.

AMSANT remains concerned about the borders which are due to open on December 20 as there are urgently there are 17 communities with a first vaccination rate of less than 70 per cent.