Professor James Ward, Director of UQ's Poche Centre for Indigenous Health featured in an article by the Courier Mail discussing the need for COVID vaccinations in rural and remote areas.
“I feel like the cases are increasing and as cases increase, hospitalisation and ICU admissions will increase and ultimately deaths will increase.,” Prof Ward said.
“Vaccination is paramount to protect from further deaths.
“If we don’t get our population up to a significant level of vaccination coverage before Covid comes in to their communities and it is not if, it’s when. If we have pockets of populations at less than 80 per cent, we will be in dire consequence because those communities, if Covid comes in to those who are not vaccinated, it will spread like wildfire,” Prof Ward said.
Wilcannia in NSW, population 700, was exposed to Covid on August 13 and within a month more than 100 people had Covid.
“Wilcannia tells many things. It was a town already with a high burden of chronic disease and previously reported as one of the towns with the lowest life expectancy and really shows have inequities can play out in a pandemic,” Prof Ward said.
