VACCINES MATTER NOW MORE THAN EVER

AUTHORITIES were pleased on Saturday afternoon that vaccination rates in some lowly vaccinated communities had increased off the back of locally acquired cases.

It showed that low vaccination rates were more a byproduct of complacency rather than hesitancy in the community.

But Acting Health Minister Nicole Manison overshadowed this by reminding people that prevention is the best medicine.

“We are seeing around the Territory people are still responding well to outbreaks in their communities to get vaccinated, but we need people to get vaccinated in advance,” Ms Manison said.

News on Saturday that a fully vaccinated woman sadly became the second person to die after contracting Covid-19 in the Territory should not dissuade people of the benefits of vaccines. While her death is tragic, authorities stressed she had significant comorbidities.

And vaccines do not reduce the risk of Covid-19 to zero, but they do reduce the risk of severe illness significantly. Health systems across the globe, including in Australia, have discovered that the unvaccinated make up the vast majority of hospitalised Covid-19 cases, despite being the tiny minority of the wider population.

With all Territorians aged five and older now eligible, and supplies of the jab no longer a problem, it has never been easier to book in for a vaccine.

Vaccination rates tumbled across the Territory, particularly in remote communities, once five to 11-year-olds became eligible last week. All five regions fell to below 80 per cent double vaccinated following the change, in part due to the younger than average population in some remote communities versus

Doherty Institute modelling showed the Territory would need to target an 80 per cent remote vaccination rate for people aged five years and older.

Authorities are keen to get vaccination rates back up.

It is pleasing to see almost 10 per cent of young Territorians aged five to 11 have had their first dose in only the first week of the children’s vaccine becoming available.

But further works needs to do done to ensure all parents have the resources and the confidence to book their children in for their dose.

The faster we are all vaccinated, the sooner life can start to return to normal.