Western Australia is lagging behind the rest of the nation when it comes to the fourth COVID-19 shot and children's vaccination levels in the state are also moving slowly.
With the fourth shot now available to anyone aged 30 or older, WA is ranked seventh out of the eight states and territories, with just 20 per cent of the eligible population fully vaccinated.
But more than one in four West Australians could not go and get their next dose yet, even if they wanted to.
That is because 27 per cent of the state's population has had COVID-19 in the last three months, and you must wait 12 weeks after having the virus before receiving a further vaccination.
The state also has a long way to go in giving children their second dose, with less than 43 per cent of 5 to 11-year-olds double-vaccinated.
However, the 12 to 15-year-old cohort is faring better, having become eligible earlier, with just over 80 per cent double-vaccinated against COVID-19.
Surging cases slowing vaccination rate
University of Western Australia Associate Professor Katie Atwell said that, until 2022, the state had so few cases of COVID-19 that children were not getting infected.
Dr Atwell said that the rush of children in WA being infected coincided with them becoming eligible to be vaccinated.
"At the same time period that the vaccines were available for those kids, and strongly encouraged to have them, we've also had kids actually getting the Omicron variant," she said.
"And then, of course once, you've had the infection with COVID-19, [so] there is a delay of three months before you're actually able to continue with your vaccination program."
"Whether that means people have had to delay second, third or fourth doses, I think we're certainly bearing the brunt of that in this state due to our delayed start of the pandemic."
But Dr Atwell said it was likely misconceptions in the community were also to blame. She warned against people thinking that having already been infected was a good reason not to get vaccinated.
She said there was also too much weight given to the assumption that COVID-19 would have minimal impact on children.
"Early in the pandemic, the evidence at the time was telling us that, generally, children could expect a less-severe illness if they were infected," she said.
"The trouble is there is so much we're still learning and finding out about this virus and we do know, in a minority of cases, there are children who have experienced death or serious ongoing illness as a result of infection with COVID-19.
"So, if that is something we can protect against by vaccinating our kids, then we should be."
Parental worries 'legitimate'
The WA chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Ramya Raman, said it was understandable that some parents had concerns, but she was confident that speaking with a GP could put them at ease.
"We can actually talk you though what these vaccines are, what are your concerns, so we can actually go through those questions," she said.
"These are legitimate concerns that parents would have, and we do acknowledge that, but I think the key thing is we are seeing an uptick of the COVID cases in our community and we're also in the middle of winter."
On Thursday, the state reported 6,960 new cases of the virus and there were 459 people in WA hospitals with COVID-19.
