Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House of Representatives) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] My question again is to the Minister for Health. Will the government include children between the ages of 12 and 15 in vaccination targets before the country reopens? I put the question that is being asked by parents in lockdown zones across Australia: will parents be asked to send their secondary school children back to school before they're vaccinated?

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member Hindmarsh. We'll be guided by the scientific advice in relation to the assessment of the national plan. That plan has been reaffirmed overnight by the Doherty institute, both by the head of the Doherty institute, Professor Sharon Lewin, and by Professor Jodie McVernon, the chief modeller, in her release which was put out. In terms of the allocation for the 70 and 80 per cent targets, the advice to us remains very clear—it having been put to the Doherty institute on a number of occasions—as to whether part of that should include children under 16. The advice is that the correct target for Australia, the appropriate and necessary target, should be the 16-plus adult population, on the basis of transmissibility. That's the scientific advice to Australians. In addition to that, we will continue with the program in relation to 12- to 15-year-olds.

There are two stages. Firstly, at this point in time, we've vaccinated approximately 8,000 of those that were opened up only recently, following the medical advice of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation to provide vaccinations for children with disability, children with underlying medical conditions, children in Indigenous communities and children in remote communities. They will, of course, be recorded and done in addition to the national program. Right now, we are awaiting the advice, which we hope will be with us in the course of the week, from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation for general 12- to 15-year-old vaccinations. If they advise, we will do it. I would hope that nobody is advocating that we should be vaccinating people for whom there's no medical advice. I would hope nobody is advocating that, because there was an implication in the question. In relation to students aged 12 to 15, they are a secondary cohort. Those aged 16 and above are also a secondary cohort. In relation to those aged 16 and above, bookings open as at 30 August. That was already foreshadowed last week by the Prime Minister. The secondary ages go from 12 through to 18, so there are two cohorts within that group.

Then, perhaps, as we look at all of this, one of the things is that we purchased vaccines for the whole of the population. The point about whole of population is to cover all possible contingencies of all age groups, and we are in that situation with the age of 16-plus opening up next week. Matters of school attendance are a matter for the relevant state governments, but we hope, if there is ATAGI advice, that all states and territories will join with us in the national rollout for 12- to 15-year-olds.