Tasmania has one of the world's highest vaccination rates, but many young children are still unvaccinated — so, why has progress stalled?
With the new Omicron sub-variant BA.2 spreading across the island state, and outbreaks in more than 100 schools, is it time to ramp up vaccination efforts?
Are children fuelling COVID outbreaks?
After weeks of seeing COVID-19 cases drop, of late Tasmania has been recording a steady increase in numbers, hitting daily figures that exceed 1,000.
It's mostly primary and secondary school children who make up the infections, Public Health Director Mark Veitch on Friday said.
"Half the cases we're seeing each day are less than 20 years," he said.
"The highest age-specific rate of infection is in primary school children and secondary school children.
Across the state, 102 schools now have COVID-19 outbreaks.
Public Health considers it an outbreak if five or more students in a class have tested positive for the virus.
But Dr Veitch said he had expected to see a steeper spike in case numbers when the school year started.
Deakin University chair in epidemiology Catherine Bennett said the new Omicron sub-variant BA.2, and higher testing rates among children were likely contributing to the increase in Tasmania's case numbers.
"When school started, we've been actively testing young people, so their infection rates probably seem even higher because we're screening for them, we're finding more of the cases out there," she said.
Where are the outbreaks?
While Tasmania generally has a very high vaccination rate of 97 per cent, the efforts of the five-to-11 age group are lagging behind.
Currently, just 62 per cent of the age group have had one shot of a vaccine.
The state's health department says that's still 11 per cent above the national average, but it wants to "see that figure continue to rise".
North-west Tasmania has the lowest vaccination rate among the age group, at 51 per cent.
Around 62 per cent of children aged five to 11 have received a dose in the north, and 69 in the south.
This week will see the delivery of second doses.
Why has the vaccination rate stalled?
The graph below shows that Tasmania's vaccination rate stalled a while ago.
The Australian Education Union Tasmania branch president, David Genford, said the "hesitancy and complacency" were "concerning".
Professor Bennett said similar "slow-down" in the uptake could be seen across the country.
"There was a lot of interest initially, particularly with parents wanting to get that first dose completed before school started," she said.
"That was obviously a motivation, and a lot of people had been waiting for a long time for that opportunity to have their kids vaccinated, so there was that initial rush. And then it quietened off."
She said there was hesitancy among some parents to vaccinate their young children.
"We've now got good information, with a large number of kids vaccinated Australia-wide, to say that this is safe for those kids. And it is effective in reducing this risk of serious illness," Professor Bennett said.
She said while "serious illness" from COVID-19 was "very rare" in children, with the new Omicron sub-variant BA.2 spreading across the country, vaccinating as much as the population as possible was vital.
"[This] hopefully will be seen by parents as a signal that you can't just sort of sit back and wait forever. The virus is circulating and you will have probably more than one exposure now," she said.
"We're not expecting a really high peak, but it makes it a bit more challenging to contain the virus.
Tasmanians can book a vaccination on the coronavirus.tas.gov.au website.
Here are some of the latest Tasmanian COVID-19 stories:
- Tasmania's mask rules change again — here's where you're allowed to take it off
- Tasmania's high vax rate meant its reopening was unlike any other — here's how it's going two months on
- Anne has been a relief teacher for years but this time she is staying away from the classroom
- 'They don't even fit the kids': Back-to-school packs ridiculed
