The NT's peak Aboriginal health body is calling for "urgent action" to boost remote vaccination rates — especially in Central Australia and the Barkly region — before the NT continues to wind back public health measures.
The NT government has indicated it will soon scrap a Territory-wide mask mandate and QR check-in requirements, although it hasn't set a date as to when.
It has already discarded all entry conditions, with unvaccinated travellers now allowed in and border passes scrapped.
"We're at a real, critical point of the pandemic," said John Paterson, chief executive of the NT branch of the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance.
Mr Paterson said in more than a dozen remote Aboriginal communities across the NT, fewer than 10 per cent of residents were triple vaccinated.
The NT only allows residents and essential workers to enter communities with low vaccination rates, but Mr Paterson says his members still have "major concerns" about unvaccinated travellers being allowed into the NT, where there are "multiple opportunities" for them to interact with vulnerable Territorians.
He said it was essential to protect the people in the communities, most of whom were at heightened risk of severe COVID-19 because they were Aboriginal people with complex health conditions.
Infectious disease expert Paul Griffin agreed it was "critically important" to increase booster rates in remote communities before the NT wound back its public health measures further.
"With Omicron, we know the protection from two doses is slightly reduced, we really need that third dose to get the protection right back up to what we saw two doses provide against previous variants," he said.
Remote booster rates lag behind NT average
Territory-wide, 49 per cent of people 16 and older have had their booster: more than three times the rate in remote Aboriginal communities across the Barkly.
Across NT government-managed clinics in the Barkly region, 66 per cent of residents aged 16 and older have had two doses and 14 per cent have had three.
"Those rates [in the Barkly] simply aren't high enough and the reasons why need to be explored and that needs to be addressed," Professor Griffin said.
In Central Australia, 26 per cent of people have had their booster shot, far fewer than the 59 per cent of remote residents in East Arnhem who are triple-dosed and 46 per cent of people living in remote Top End communities who have had three vaccines.
According to NT government figures, around 30 per cent of the NT's population are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people but about 75 per cent of COVID-related hospital admissions to date have been Indigenous patients.
Professor Griffin said this rate showed Indigenous Territorians were "clearly at risk" from severe COVID-19 disease, something experts had been warning for since the start of the pandemic.
An NT government spokesman said the NT had also seen an "over-representation of unvaccinated COVID-19 hospital admissions", noting there was evidence from Australia and around the world the booster vaccine saved lives.
"No one who has died from COVID-19 in the Northern Territory received a vaccine booster," he said.
NT Health concerned about booster rates
The NT government spokesman said the department was concerned about low booster coverage in some regions.
"Booster dose rates need to significantly lift in the Central Australia and Barkly regions and we currently have NT Health vaccination teams on the ground in these communities," he said.
The spokesman said these teams had been providing vaccine information in language, working with community leaders and going door-to-door in some communities to reach residents.
A spokesman from the Federal Department of Health said they'd also put in "significant effort" to boost vaccination rates in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
He said this included federal funding for the Royal Flying Doctors Service, which provided vaccination in remote and hard to reach communities; support for Commonwealth surge workforce teams and running outreach clinics.
In a bid to stop the spread of coronavirus, the federal government has also extended Biosecurity Zones across communities in the Northern Land Council footprint until March 3, restricting free travel in these areas.
But Mr Paterson said more needed to be done, calling for more federal and territory government funding to support additional surge vaccination teams.
"The surge workforce has been an issue, we've been calling for support and assistance from all levels of government and we believe it's now requiring urgent attention," he said.
"At the moment, we're barely coping now with our current workforce."
Professor Griffin suggested the date of when the NT lifted its mask mandate could be linked to when booster rates improved: which would provide an incentive for people to roll up their sleeves and ensure vulnerable remote residents were protected.
"We really need to get those [booster] rates higher," he said.
"There are things that can be done and we certainly shouldn't stop until we've addressed every option."
