Labor demands plan for vaccinating children after senator Katy Gallagher’s daughter catches Covid
Labor is renewing calls for a clearer timetable of when children aged 12 to 15 will be vaccinated, after Katy Gallagher’s teenage daughter contracted Covid-19.
The shadow finance minister has labelled the vaccination program a “failure” after her 14-year-old, Evie, contracted Covid, arguing that her family, like many others with teenagers, was left vulnerable to coronavirus.
Also on Wednesday, New South Wales chief health officer Kerry Chant said she was “keen” for vaccines to be approved for children under 16, noting high school transmission was a growing risk but that vaccinations could not start without regulatory approval.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration has given provisional approval for Pfizer to be given to children aged 12 to 15.
Earlier in August, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation recommended Pfizer be given to children in that age group with specified underlying medical conditions, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, and those in remote communities.
Atagi said it will make a recommendation for the rest of the 12 to 15 age group “within the coming months”.
On Wednesday Atagi co-chair Allen Cheng told Guardian Australia extending eligibility to those aged 12 to 15 is still “actively being considered but the priority currently is adults”, suggesting teenagers may have to wait to be vaccinated after adults.
Gallagher told ABC News Breakfast that Evie is “pretty sick” and has “a lot of Covid symptoms”.
Gallagher and her partner are fully vaccinated and the family is self-isolating, but she expressed concern that her son, who is almost 16 and unvaccinated, may also contract Covid.
“I’m doing most of the care,” she said. “I’m in full face shield, masks, gloves. disinfectant. It’s quite a palaver and it’s quite scary for her as well.”
“My family’s not special – we’re just like every other Australian family. We’ve been touched by Covid now. I’m angry that it’s come to this.”
Gallagher, who has held the government to account over its Covid response as chair of the Senate’s Covid-19 committee, told ABC Radio she now had “a very personal exposure to … some of the failures”.
“After 18 months I’m sitting here with two teenagers and they’re completely vulnerable to Covid-19 and I feel as a mother that that’s been a failure of our response to Covid.”
Gallagher said her children were not eligible for the vaccine yet, blaming lack of supply of Pfizer vaccines for the pace of the rollout.
Chant, speaking at Wednesday’s NSW Covid update after Gallagher had revealed her child’s diagnosis, said 12-15 year-olds should be vaccinated.
“I firmly believe that we need to get in and vaccinate our 12 to 15-year-olds at the moment,” Chant said.
“I think that we are watching internationally the evidence around younger children, but I think that given the transmission of Delta, it may well be that in future we do provide vaccines in the younger age groups.”
“I believe that we will be targeting school-aged children, particularly the high school children, very quickly because we know they do contribute to transmission,” Chant said.
Atagi’s advice is based on studies that suggest children and adolescents “have a lower susceptibility to [Covid-19] compared to adults, and play a lesser role in transmission at a population level” and that children have “a much lower risk of severe illness … than adults, and typically exhibit a mild course of illness”.
But Atagi concedes these studies “do not reflect the epidemiology related to the more recently emerged variants such as the Delta variant”.
In Victoria, of the 246 active cases, 56 are in children aged under nine and 55 in children aged between 10 and 19.
On Wednesday Morrison told reporters work was already underway at national cabinet for school-based vaccination programs, which were “not too far away” but the timing would depend on medical advice.
“To senator Gallagher, I can understand she’s terribly upset about the fact that one of her own children has been affected with Covid,” he said.
“Any parent, I can understand that, would be absolutely heartbreaking and I wish Evie and the family all the best for a speedy recovery.”
On Tuesday, Labor’s shadow health minister, Mark Butler, called for a clearer timetable for when children aged 12 to 15 will be eligible.
“Parents are becoming increasingly concerned at the position of children and teenagers in this third wave. Particularly their exposure to the Delta variant,” he told reporters in Adelaide.
“We are seeing hundreds of cases of children and teenagers picking up this Delta variant during the third wave. As many as a third of cases in the greater Sydney area over the past fortnight, as we understand it.”
Butler said Australians “still don’t know when the vaccine will be made available to teenagers” outside those already recommended.
“Parents want to know from the Morrison government what is the plan over coming months to vaccinate our teenagers.
“It’s time that Greg Hunt and Scott
Morrison provided parents with some assurance about that.”
The Greens have also called on the Morrison government to include children in the vaccination rollout and targets.
“Delta is deadly and it’s hitting children and teenagers,” Greens leader Adam Bandt said. “We have to get our kids vaccinated, but the prime minister’s vaccination targets don’t include children.”
The TGA is currently considering approving the Moderna vaccine for children, which Hunt has said the Australian government is expecting a decision on “in the coming month”.
Hunt has rejected claims the federal government failed to order enough Pfizer, claiming Australia’s initial order of 10m was all the company had offered.
Australia has now ordered a total of 40m doses of Pfizer for first and second doses, most of which is expected to arrive in the final three months of the year, and 85m boosters.
Additional reporting: Elias Visontay