Child vax rollout welcomed
‘‘We should get onto vaccinating the kids as soon as possible. The sooner the better.’’ epidemiologist Rod Jackson
News that the vaccine roll-out for 5 to 11-year-old children will now start on January 17 in the face of a global surge in Omicron cases has been welcomed by epidemiologists and south Auckland healthcare providers.
Medsafe approved the Pfizer vaccine for children last week and Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said at the time that if Cabinet gave it the green light it could be rolled out before the end of January.
But Hipkins announced on Tuesday that the roll-out would now start on January 17.
Epidemiologist Rod Jackson said New Zealand couldn’t afford to wait to vaccinate 5 to 11-yearolds, and the Government’s announcement was important.
‘‘It’s fantastic news. Omicron seems so infectious and the chance that it will escape from MIQ some time is quite high. So we should get onto vaccinating the kids as soon as possible,’’ Jackson said. ‘‘The sooner the better.’’
He recently called for Māori, Pasifika and lower socioeconomic communities like south Auckland to be prioritised in the child vaccination roll-out to help prevent further outbreaks.
Jackson said people in marginalised communities were more likely to live in overcrowded and multi-generational households, where the threat of transmission was greater.
Coupled with the fact such areas generally have lower vaccination rates and younger populations meant it could lead to ‘‘a perfect storm’’.
He said for the majority of the population, a centralised mass vaccination system works. But for marginalised Māori and Pasifika communities in areas like south Auckland, the Ministry of Health needed to think outside the square this time.
Jackson said providers who were already working closely with Māori and Pasifika communities will get more cutthrough with the vaccine roll-out for children.
Dr Matire Harwood works at the Papakura Marae Health Clinic and agreed with Jackson and said the sooner the vaccine can be delivered for 5 to 11-yearold children in south Auckland the better.
She welcomed news that the roll-out would start on January 17 and said families will be able to send their children back to school with some peace of mind because they have been immunised.
Harwood said it was important that children have at least one dose before they go back to the classroom.
‘‘Omicron is way more infectious than Delta and we want to make sure they are as safe as possible.’’
And she said despite the fact Māori were still ‘‘lagging behind’’ in terms of vaccination rates, she hoped the vaccination of children could help convince more whānau to get immunised.
University of Otago (Wellington) epidemiologist Michael Baker said it appeared the Government had brought forward the child vaccination programme.
‘‘They were talking about doing it in late January, so I think it’s really great news,’’ he said.
‘‘We could see Omicron circulating very rapidly in New Zealand at any moment, so we want as much protection as we can get.’’
Te Puea Winiata, the chief executive of south Auckland’s Turuki Healthcare, said having the vaccine available by January 17 was good to hear, but said there was still a lot of preparation and training that would need to take place before the rollout.
‘‘Everything has happened really quickly and those in the sector now need a bit of a break and some time to regroup so we can manage this well.’’
Winiata said it had already been called by parents asking when the vaccine for 5 to 11-yearolds will be available and if they can get their children immunised before they go on holiday.