Indigenous vax threat

QUEENSLAND’S Aboriginal communities are at risk of being exposed to an insurmountable Covid-19 threat when the rest of the state opens up, with vaccination rates in some areas trailing by years.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has flagged wanting to see an “even spread” of Covid-19 protection across the state, but an Indigenous health expert has said vulnerable communities should be given the authority to lock themselves in when Queensland eventually opens up.

Federal government Covid-19 jab data shows about 47 per cent of First Nations Queenslanders have had at least one jab, compared with 70.2 per cent of the wider population.

Indigenous infectious disease expert James Ward, of UQ’S Poche Centre for Indigenous Health, said there factors including supply issues early in the rollout, ongoing chronic understaffing of Aboriginal health services and generational mistrust of the healthcare system were behind the slow take up.

“What we need to do at the same time as opening up is do everything we can to protect those communities from outbreaks and potential deaths,” Professor Ward said.

“And that might involve reinstating emergency legislation to close communities off to visitors, it may involve sending out rapid response outbreak teams.

“One thing we don’t want is for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to be bearing the brunt of hospitalisations, ICU admissions and potential death.”

The gap between the vaccination rates of First Nations people and the wider population varies across the state, with the widest rift being in Cairns, according to the latest data.

In the Far North, 67 per cent of people aged 15 and older had received at least one jab as at October 4, but the rate among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population was only 32 per cent.

In the least protected areas, the Aboriginal communities of Yarrabah and Cherbourg, the heralded 80 per cent milestone will not be reached until 2023 and 2024 if the take up remains glacial.

Even in inner city Brisbane, where access to the jab is ubiquitous, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander vaccination rates are 16 per cent behind the wider population.

“There is a level of mistrust of the vaccine rollout . . . negative experiences with health care systems over a very long period of time, and it’s not only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, but other culturally and linguistically diverse communities,” Prof Ward said.

There are areas that are bucking the trend. On Mornington Island, Mayor Kyle Yanner said about 90 per cent of the population had already had a jab.