Covid: Announcement over Western Australia’s border reopening looms

WA’s Education Minister Sue Ellery ruled out calls for WA’s tough border to stay closed after the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) yesterday announced it had provisionally approved the Pfizer vaccine for children between five and 11 years of age.

The WA government plans to reopen once 90 per cent of the population have been vaccinated, but the Australian Medical Association’s WA President Mark Duncan-Smith urged child vaccination “should count in targets” and called for the government to delay reopening “relatively briefly with great benefits”.

Vaccinations in that age group are expected to begin from January 10. Last week, Premier Mark McGowan said Western Australia’s plan was to reopen in early 2022.

Ms Ellery said there were no plans to delay to allow time for younger children to receive the jab and the state remains on track to re-open.

Ms Ellery confirmed those in the younger cohort won’t be included in the target but she expected a higher number will already be immunised nonetheless.

“We’re not going to be adding the 5-11 year-old group to the numbers that we count for (the 80 per cent threshold),” Ms Ellery said.

“We’re already well underway in achieving what we needed to achieve in those targets and it just wouldn’t be right to kind of change the rules partway through that.”

Approximately 78 per cent of West Australians aged 12 and above have now received both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine. The 80 per cent milestone is expected before December 10, with McGowan expected to roll out a timeline on reopening.

She said children will not need a Covid-19 vaccine to attend school but “I expect a really high take-up of vaccines for that five to 11 year-old group”.

“I’ve lost count of the number of parents of primary school aged children who have asked me when that vaccine is going to be available.”