PM puts jabs on parents

PRIME Minister Scott Morrison has defended the rollout of school vaccines, saying there would be enough jabs to go around and it was up to parents to use them.

Just one in four children were vaccinated by the end of last week and doctors have warned it will be impossible for them to vaccinate all five-11year-olds before school returns in just over a week because they only receive 200 vaccines per fortnight. Even if they could, children would only be partially vaccinated because there is an eight-week gap between their first and second doses.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said by the end of next week, “we will have more vaccinations in the field than there are children”. And he urged parents who could not get a GP appointment to use state-run mass vaccination clinics that had available appointments.

Younger children are more troublesome to vaccinate and most chemists are refusing to do childhood vaccines claiming they don’t get paid enough for the time it takes.

Parents are more likely to want to use their doctor as it is a less stressful environment.