Coronavirus: Concerns 1-in-5 children have missed vaccinations during pandemic as Victoria records 114 new cases
Luis Enrique Ascui/The Age
Royal Children’s Hospital paediatrician Anthea Rhodes said one-in-five children aged under five had had a routine vaccine delayed during the pandemic.
Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital has launched a drive-through vaccination programme amid fears parents are foregoing their children’s shots rather than go to doctors during the coronavirus pandemic.
As the Australian state of Victoria recorded 114 new cases of Covid-19 and 11 additional deaths in the past 24 hours, Royal Children’s Hospital paediatrician Anthea Rhodes said one-in-five children aged under five had had a routine vaccine delayed during the pandemic.
“The main reason parents gave for delaying care was fear or concern about their child or themselves catching Covid-19 in a healthcare facility or service,” Rhodes said.
“Some families are of the misunderstanding that because their children are not exposed to other kids, perhaps they are not at risk of catching preventable diseases, so perhaps they are putting off having the children vaccinated.”
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Premier Daniel Andrews said all clinicians and healthcare providers across the state would have implemented processes to keep patients safe, whether for childhood vaccines or other issues.
“If we do not have people coming forward and getting access to the care they need, we will simply have people’s health deteriorating and more and more people having to present to the emergency department, and we don’t want that to happen,” Andrews said.
The drive-through vaccination service is available to all children aged under 18 in the state who are due or overdue a routine vaccination, but Rhodes also urged parents to speak to their own doctors about immunisations.
Rhodes said there was a risk that outbreaks of preventable diseases like whooping cough or measles would occur if too many children were not vaccinated when children go back to school for term four.
“The last thing we want off the back of the coronavirus pandemic is an outbreak of these other preventable diseases,” she said.
“It’s very important we acknowledge parents’ concerns when it comes to the health and wellbeing of their children.
“But at the same [time, we need to] reinforce the message that healthcare facilities are safe places for families to access care for their children and that they should not delay accessing care in the event that the child needs to be seen.”
JOE ARMAO/The Age
Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews says it’s still too early to open up the state.
Andrews said nine of Victoria’s overnight deaths are linked to aged care.
The deaths include one man in his 70s, five women and one man in their 80s and three women and one man in their 90s.
Andrews said the falling numbers – including no new cases in Bendigo and Ballarat – were still too high for Victoria to open up.
“We are seeing a fall across each of the key metrics, and the strategy is working. And that is a credit to every Victorian who has made a powerful contribution to that end. But we have to stay the course on this,” Andrews said.
“At 100, 94, at 114, whatever the number, we simply could not open up. Those numbers would explode, we would finish up and perhaps an even worse situation than we have been in recent months. We cannot fritter away all that good work and sacrifice.”
Despite the decreasing daily totals, Andrews said the state of disaster, which allows for many of the stage four restrictions, is set to be extended when it expires this week.
The one-month disaster order, which goes beyond an emergency declaration, was announced in early August and vests power in Police Minister Lisa Neville. The order does not automatically impose all the restrictions the state has seen under stage four, but instead allows those directives to be imposed, including the 5km rule and the curfew.
Andrews said he was waiting for advice from Neville and Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp on whether an extension was required. The extension would not mean the current rules would automatically apply for the length of the extension, and the government has not announced a plan to extend stage four rules beyond September 13.
“It doesn’t mean that for whatever period that was extended the roles have to be unchanged, there can be variation within that,” Andrews said. “But these legal protections, legal frameworks, put beyond doubt that measures were taken to protect public health.”
There are 2830 active cases across the state, including 166 in regional Victoria and 1277 linked to aged care.
The total number of cases now sits at 19,017 and there are have now been 524 deaths in the state, 382 linked to aged care.
About 14,000 tests were recorded in the past 24 hours and three cases have been added to the total of those with no known source of infection.
There are now 472 people with Covid-19 in Victorian hospitals, nine fewer than yesterday, including 25 in intensive care, one fewer than the previous day.
“Can I again just urge every Victorian with even the mildest of symptoms – as soon as you have symptom onset, as soon as you begin to feel even moderately unwell … get tested quickly,” Andrews said.
On Saturday, the number of new daily cases of coronavirus fell below 100 for the first time since early July, with Andrews pleading with residents not to jeopardise the progress made amid the state’s warm, sunny weather.
The Age
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