Northern Territory ponders children Covid-19 care strategy

Teachers and childcare workers could be required to vaccinate and undergo daily rapid antigen testing for Covid-19 as part of the NT’s reopening plan.

Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner. Picture: Julianne Osborne

Teachers and childcare workers could be required to vaccinate and undergo daily rapid antigen testing for Covid-19 as part of the Northern Territory’s reopening plan.

The Top End jurisdiction is wrestling with safely putting an end to lockdowns without endangering vulnerable populations such as Indigenous people and children.

The Territory has a much younger demographic than the Australian average. No vaccines have yet been approved for children, so an 80 per cent penetration rate among eligible adults could mean vaccinating only about half of the people in some areas.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner said there could be “no exit from lockdowns unless we have a plan for our kids.”

“When we hit 80 per cent vaccination rate among the eligible population, and the national plan says open up, our most vulnerable will be those who can’t be vaccinated — every child under 12,” he said.

“Options we need to consider range from mandatory vaccines if you work with our children to daily Covid testing for all staff at childcare centres, preschools, and primary schools. At this early stage, nothing should be off the table.”

Michael Toole, a professor of epidemiology at the Burnet Institute, said the Territory might need to push for higher vaccination rates in areas with many youngsters. “We don’t know yet what overall level of vaccination we need to be able to ease restrictions and open up without having large outbreaks,” he said.

“If we reached 70 per cent (national) vaccine penetration tomorrow, we couldn’t do anything (because there are currently too many active cases in the community).”

The Doherty Institute modelling used as a base for Australia’s national reopening plan examined how small outbreaks might be managed under different levels of vaccine penetration.

The strategy plan was predicated on low daily case numbers as a starting point.

The news comes as the Territory recorded no new corona­virus cases on the second day of a snap three-day lockdown triggered by an infection in a man from the US who had close or casual contact with several hundred people in the community.

Mr Gunner said close to 2000 Covid-19 tests had been conducted and virtually all of his contacts identified. Authorities still did not know the source of his infection. He had declined to reveal his vaccination status.

Professor Toole said even countries such as Iceland and Malta that had achieved high rates of vaccine penetration were still experiencing large corona­virus outbreaks. He said allowing Covid-19 to spread was not viable because it would inevitably mutate to become more infectious. “Vaccination will eventually get us out of this mess, but it’s not a case of in one day you open up and get back to normal life.”