Sprint to protect Indigenous communities as lockdowns ease

Sprint is on to protect Indigenous communities as lockdowns ease

Words: Tom Dusevic | Olivia Caisley Producer: Louise Starkey

Indigenous communities in remote parts of the country are becoming the centre of attention as Australia nears the end of its fight against Covid-19.

Vaccination rates for Indigenous Australians are behind the rest of the nation by as much as 25 percentage points, despite being listed as a priority group under the commonwealth’s rollout plan.

58 per cent of Indigenous Australians had received their first jab as of mid-October, compared with 84 per cent of the wider community.

At the same time, only 42 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were fully vaccinated in contrast to the 64 per cent figure among the general population of those aged 16 and over.

Wilcannia became an emblem of Covid-19’s nasty streak when the Delta strain steamrolled through the remote, mainly Indigenous town in far west NSW.

Infections reached 152 during August and September, between one-quarter and one-fifth of the town’s residents.

The result is no surprise, with the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation stating it would be “impossible” for Wilcannia “to contain due to overcrowding, poor sanitation and a lack of resources needed to quarantine properly” in July 2020.

Chief executive Pat Turner, who is also lead convener of the Coalition of Peaks, told the Senate’s Covid-19 committee in October “the residents of Wilcannia were left to isolate in tents during the first weeks of the outbreak”.

Authorities have since thrown everything they could muster at a response — bringing in the Australian Medical Assistance Team, a crack team of emergency disaster responders, the Royal Flying Doctor Service, state services, and volunteers.

Community leaders have also stepped up to distribute food, persuade family and friends to get vaccinated, and sort out living arrangements.

In the Far West and Orana areas, 63 per cent of residents are fully vaccinated. In the Pilbara, one in three have had their first dose and one in five are fully vaccinated. In Papua New Guinea , coverage is below 50 per cent for first doses and one-third for full vaccination. In Yarrabah, only 32 per cent of people have had at least one jab. In Mapoon , on the western tip of Cape York, less than 20 per cent of residents are fully vaccinated.

Following Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service ( ACCHS ) doctors and nurses spending three days knocking on doors and dispensing the vaccine, Yarrabah rates have jumped to 50 per cent for first doses and possibly 30 per cent for second doses.

Delta is infecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders at twice the rate of non-Indigenous Australians.

The average age of an Indigenous Australian is 23, with 80 per cent aged under 50.