Dr Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Health spokesperson
Government surveillance data confirms children under five are being admitted to hospital with Covid at a significantly higher rate than any other under-40 cohort.
Unvaccinated Tasmanian children under five years are at higher risk of serious Covid complications, but have been abandoned by the Rockliff Government.
The Premier and Minister for Health needs to protect children through a requirement for mask wearing in childcare settings, and a vaccination campaign for eligible children. As schools wrap up for the year, more and more kids of all ages will be mixing – many of whom are unvaccinated or under-vaccinated.
In the midst of the latest Covid wave, the Liberals refuse to protect the community – with children especially vulnerable. Tasmanian children need to be protected, not infected.
The Rockliff Government is not doing anything to protect our State’s most vulnerable. Instead, they are actively doing otherwise.
They are planning to cancel public PCR testing clinics in the new year, and the Hobart Respiratory Clinic is also closing . This will only put pressure on emergency departments, and increase the spread of Covid in the community as unknowingly-infectious people mix.
Jeremy Rockliff has clearly decided to let Covid rip and it’s Tasmania’s most vulnerable – including our children – who will suffer the ongoing consequences.