With growing concern across Australia about the spread of COVID-19 into regional Aboriginal communities, health advocates throughout Central Australia are voicing their concerns.
The peak Aboriginal community-controlled health service in Central Australia – Central Australian Aboriginal Congress (CAAC), has warned that five in one hundred people could die if the delta variant takes off in the region.
Chief Medical Officer with the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress Dr. John Boffa says that if the Delta variant of COVID gets into Aboriginal communities a lot of people are going to die if they aren’t vaccinated.
Dr. Boffa also stated ‘ that if the delta variant of covid gets into communities, because of overcrowding and a whole heap of issues, it spreads more easily such as the cases in New South Wales.
Dr. Boffa highlighted that contrary to public perception, vaccination rates in remote communities are in fact higher than that of the population residing within the (Mparntwe) Alice Springs community.
” Our real challenge is right here in Alice Springs. It’s in the town camps, it’s in the townhouses as well as remote.”
Dr. Boffa stated that more than seven million Australians have been vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine and not a single person has died, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders making up for around two hundred thousand of that figure. However, with vaccination rates continuing to climb, vaccination rates still remain concerningly low within Aboriginal communities throughout central Australia.
” Five people out of every one hundred will die if they get infected and they’re not vaccinated. If they’re vaccinated they won’t die, it’s as simple as that. “
With the Northern Territory government quick to respond to early outbreaks and the Chief Ministers ‘ go hard, go early’ approach, the Territory has luckily “dodged a bullet” but this doesn’t mean we should become complacent.
Dr. Boffa said he fears that we cannot continue to rely on lockdowns to keep protecting us saying the Delta variant is so infectious that even if we do go hard and go early, it’s possible that it’s still going to get into the community and start spreading.’
