With COVID cases on the rise, The Greens today have back calls from prominent public health experts urging the McGowan Government to both house and address the low rates of vaccination among rough sleepers and chronically homeless people in Perth.

It comes as leading public health experts, including Professor Fiona Stanley, have issued an open letter to Premier McGowan urging him to “activate (a) plan immediately, in collaboration with First Nations organisations, to ensure that all the have the basic security and protection of safe shelter.” 

With First Nations vaccination rates lagging across Western Australia and the state’s  largest remote First Nations community now in lockdown, The Greens have today again called on the WA Government to lift vaccination rates for First Nations people.

Dear Prime Minister

I write to request that the forthcoming National Cabinet meeting set additional national vaccination targets for First Nations people, people with disabilities and other at-risk groups as part of the National Plan.

The National Cabinet’s ‘reopening’ strategy envisages the substantial easing of restrictions when 80% vaccination rates are achieved. However, this is currently only 80% of the ‘eligible population’, defined as over 16 year olds, and it seems to permit easing of restrictions even if at-risk groups remain largely unvaccinated.

Dear Prime Minister 

I write to request that the forthcoming National Cabinet meeting consider the inclusion of children and all teenagers in the national vaccination targets.

The National Cabinet’s ‘reopening’ strategy envisages the substantial easing of restrictions when 80% vaccination rates are achieved. However, this is currently only 80% of the ‘eligible population’, defined as over 16-year olds, not 80% of the whole population, as recommended by the Grattan Institute.

Greens leader Adam Bandt said Scott Morrison’s announcement today that children would not be included in vaccination targets was a political decision that made the community less safe.

Scott Morrison’s 80% vaccination target is only 65% of the whole population, as it excludes under 16s. An additional 4 million people need to be vaccinated to reach the 80% target if all children and teenagers were included. The Grattan Institute has warned that opening up at such a low level of vaccination could lead to thousands of deaths.

Kids and teenagers must be included in the government's national vaccine targets, Greens leader, Adam Bandt, said today. Young people deserve protection and without high rates of vaccination of the whole population, we will never get out of rolling lockdowns.

The Prime Minister’s current targets exclude children and most teenagers. The PM’s 80% target is really a 65% target of the whole population.

The Greens have called on National Cabinet, who have so far agreed in principle to the Prime Minister’s latest vaccination plan, to demand it include children.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt, says growing evidence shows that vaccinating younger people is vital to reducing COVID spread and deaths.

The Greens say the absence of children under 16 in the latest vaccine rollout plans shifts baselines and according to recent studies risks thousands of deaths.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt, pressed the Prime Minister in question time today as to why he is not including children in his vaccination target.

Leaving children out of the measured cohort effectively changes the baseline, and if that means we’re targeting closer to 65% of the population, rather than 80%, a study by the Grattan Institute suggests that would likely mean thousands of deaths.

The National Vaccine Strategy should be adapted to reflect the changing nature of the pandemic, which is increasingly putting young people and casual workers at risk, the Greens have said.

The Greens also welcome the decision by the Therapeutic Goods Administration to provisionally approve the use of the Pfizer vaccine for children aged between 12 to 15 years old. This decision was made following careful evaluation of the available data supporting safety and efficacy.

Quotes attributable to the Leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt MP:

Thursday 1 July, 2021

Australian Greens Disability spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John said it was outrageous that less than 1 in 5 disabled people, and our support workers, in phase 1a and 1b had been vaccinated, more than 4 months after the rollout begun.

Senator Steele-John said the Morrison government should have made a plan to vaccinate disabled people and disability support workers in April when it was revealed that less than 10 per cent had been vaccinated.