It’s a familiar urban pattern of development — the pursuit of walkable, mixed-used districts — and yet its benefits have been foregrounded since the pandemic, which spurred an urgency around equitable urban spaces. 

Since it’s an idea that effectively suggests a particular way of living (and therefore, being), some people have been having a lot of fun online, developing arguments against the concept. In fact, these conspiracy theorists aren’t very distant from their ideological neighbours, including anti-vaxxers, anti-lockdown activists and climate deniers.

The latest spokesperson for this particular conspiracy is a 12-year old girl from the U.K. Over the weekend, the girl participated in a protest at Oxford, attended by over 2,000 people who aren’t happy about the city council’s development of a linked policy of 15-minute neighbourhoods as part of its Local Plan 2040. 

The girl made a speech condemning the 15-minute concept, calling the idea a “dystopian reality” where “the greedy people” take control “…over everything we do.”

The threat of technology
In her speech, the girl posed the threat of surveillance measures in these proposed neighbourhoods. 

“They will say, you can walk home! Would that be safe, for me, to walk home? Me, as a 12-year-old, walking home in the dark alone. Is that really going to be safe?” she said. 

“Then they will say, ‘Oh, don’t worry about that. We’ve already thought of that. You will be safe. We will have a thousand cameras on the streets following you and tracking you all the way home. Oh, uh, just remember, it’s for your safety’.”

“Do you really think I want to be watched every second of the day?” she continued. “Are you serious? Thousands of cameras tracking my every move until I get home. At this point, I have to ask, is my safety that important to me, that I want to be followed by cameras all the way home? Or do I prefer to have freedom than privacy? And for your information, I still wouldn’t feel safe. No amount of cameras is going to stop someone who wants to attack me. I want to be safe, but not to the extent that I am prepared to give up my freedom and my privacy to have it.”

She then mocked climate change advocate Greta Thunberg by impersonating Thunberg’s voice as she said: “As a 12-year-old, I’m really concerned about my future. And to [World Economic Forum chairman] Klaus Schwab, I say this: How dare you!” 

She then bursts into laughter, before rearranging her face to a serious expression. 

“How dare you steal my childhood and my future, and the future of all children, by enslaving us in your crazy digital surveillance prison.”

According to Areeq Chowdhury, a data and digital technologies researcher in East London, the 15-minute neighbourhood has absolutely nothing to do with surveillance or control.

“It’s just about creating a sense of community and promoting active travel,” Areeq told WIRED, “I think often people overestimate the competence of authorities to conduct these kinds of [conspiracies].”

Climate Change
The 12-year old also took a swipe at climate change, saying that it was being used to “control” citizens and “nudge us in the direction the greedy people want us to go.”

“Let’s say my friend lives in Zone 3 and I’m in Zone 1,” she began. “If, for example, I went to my friend’s house in Zone 3, my parents normally come and pick me up in their car – it only takes 10 minutes.”

“So does that mean that they would have to go round the ring road and back into town again? If my mum or dad had to drive around the ring road, it would take 30 minutes, causing much more pollution and leaving a much bigger carbon footprint.”

“These are the first steps of a dystopian reality, called 15-minute neighbourhoods. From a small seed, a huge tree can grow. Climate change is being used to control us.”

“Our government has been hijacked by greedy and selfish impostors posing as politicians…who want total control over everything we do, everything we think, and everything we say”.

“They believe they are better than us and masters over us. And until this problem is effectively dealt with, the tyranny will continue.” 

Rise of conspiracy theory 

The footage of the girl’s speech has been posted on social media by groups including the U.S anti-vaccine organisation, Children’s Health Defense, inviting rallying support from right-wing pundits. 

Conspiracy theorists have been developing their #15MinuteCity conspiracy since 2020, after the World Economic Forum launched their post-pandemic recovery initiative called “the Great Reset” which the theorists interpreted as governments restricting people’s freedoms — from using their cars, travelling outside assigned districts or eating meat.

Prominent figures have been weighing in on the conspiracy, including alt-right figure Jordan Peterson, change deniers Steve Milloy and Marc Morano, and Conservative Party member Nick Fletcher, who said in Parliament earlier this month that 15-minute cities are an “international socialist concept” that would “take away our personal freedom.”

The debate in Oxford began three years ago, when the Oxfordshire County Council, the highway authority and Oxford City Council announced plans to solve the issue of congestion in the city by moving people from away from cars towards sustainable transport.

Last December, it was revealed that staff and councillors from Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council had received abuse “…due to inaccurate information, being circulated online, about traffic filters.”

“The misinformation online has linked the traffic filters to the 15-minute neighbourhoods proposal in the city council’s Local Plan 2040, suggesting that the traffic filters will be used to confine people to their local area,” a statement issued from both councils read. “This is not true.”

The protests on the weekend incited some pretty strong opinions, including one organiser who told a student newspaper, “…we’re here because we’re incredibly worried about the attack on our rights, the freedom of movement, and everything that comes from freedom of movement.”

“Most people you speak to here are going to be all for a return to local economies. But this isn’t going to achieve that, it’s going to restrict people’s rights.” 

Another protester representing Stand in the Park U.K (the global anti-lockdown group started in Sydney by Brady Gunn) said, “We’re obviously in opposition to this rollout of 15-minute cities and the implications of what that means when you are effectively locking people into zones in their own hometowns.”

“It’s made to sound like this wonderful idea because it would be fantastic if we have all these nice little community hubs with amenities within close reach, but the actual reality of what this means is that you are being tracked and traced within your own town. You’re looking at having to have permits to leave the zone that you find yourself in.”

In the past few years, conspiracy theories have been on the rise as pandemic-related lockdowns and social ruptures lead many to make conclusions about government encroachment and civil liberties. 

False narratives continue to plague the internet, with some extremists even comparing 15-minute cities to “concentration camps” and “capitalist hell”. 

Recently, the cabinet member for environment, culture and tourism, Councillor Carole Mulroney, said in a statement, “We always need to learn from what others are doing.”

“The concept of a local area with access to facilities within 15 minutes is something I am sure a lot of people would welcome,” the Liberal Democrat said. “Our local plans seeks to protect and improve services in each of those places for the benefit of residents. However, the idea of charging for travelling outside a zone is not acceptable in my view and Oxford are currently reaping the backlash on that.

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What’s causing this disparity in Covid-19 deaths? New data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) reveals that for migrant and refugee communities, limited access to in-language and culturally tailored health information is a big contributor. 

The report, Australia’s Health 2022, found that migrant and refugee communities are among several population groups at a greater risk of contracting and dying from Covid-19 than the general population due to barriers such as language difficulties, cost of care, lack of culturally appropriate information and unfamiliarity with the Australian healthcare system. 

As one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse countries in the world, this latest evidence highlights the critical need for health education programs tailored to migrant and refugee communities in Australia.

Stepping in to provide this vital resource is The Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health (MCWH), a Melbourne-based, not-for-profit organisation and the only migrant and refugee women-run Women’s Health Service in Victoria. Their latest program, Health in My Language, aims to improve vaccine literacy, increase vaccine confidence and decrease barriers to navigate the vaccination system. 

MCWH’s National Program Manager, Dr. Regina Torres-Quiazon doesn’t think the report’s latest evidence should be viewed as merely a ‘migrant’ issue. She says, “The latest census shows we [migrants] now make up 51% of the population- we need to acknowledge that it’s indicative of an entrenched structural problem in our health systems.”

Health in My Language is a national health education program delivering accurate, multilingual information from trusted professional health educators across Australia.

The program is run in every Australian state and territory and is free of charge to migrant and refugee communities through funding that runs until December 2022 from the Commonwealth Government. MCWH coordinates a team of 44 bilingual health educators trained to deliver health education in over 20 languages/dialects. 

“We know from our long history of working with migrant communities that many of these deaths could have been prevented through culturally tailored, in-language information and education, delivered by health educators who recognise that experiences of racism and discrimination in our health system can be just as detrimental to health,” said Dr Torres-Quiazon.

“The Health in My Language Project with its deployment of a trained bilingual COVID-19 vaccination health education workforce can literally save lives.”

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The study revealed an increase in reported rates of depression from 17 percent to 47 per cent, and rates of anxiety jumping up 37 per cent in expecting mothers to 60 per cent.

The peer-reviewed study, published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, studied 150 women during the peak of the pandemic between April 2020 and January 2021. 

The report found that the limited social support that usually protects women against anxiety symptoms may have affected their wellbeing and caused their deteriorating mental health, as well as the removal of appointments, maternity services, restrictions and other changes to person-to-person contact.

The research was conducted by Dr Maria Laura Filippetti and Dr Silvia Rigato, two developmental scientists who have spent years developing their research at the Essex Babylab, the department within the University of Essex that studies how infants and children learn and grow.

Dr Rigato believes it is vital to “protect maternal wellbeing during pregnancy and beyond” and “to ensure that all children, and their new families, are given the best possible start in life”.

“While this result is in line with previous observations that women’s mood during pregnancy influences the early relationship with her child, it reinforces the need for authorities to support women throughout their pregnancy and the postnatal period in order to protect their health and their infants’ development,” she said. 

Dr Filippetti agrees that more needs to be done to support women during their pregnancy at this time. 

“The high rates of depression and anxiety during the pandemic highlighted by our study suggest that expectant women are facing a mental health crisis that can significantly interfere and impair mother-infant bonding during pregnancy, and can potentially impact on childbirth outcome, as well as later infant and child development,” she said. 

The paper also showed that prenatal trauma, like the pandemic, could have made expectant mothers more vulnerable to mental health problems and that those who considered the impact of the pandemic to be more negative showed higher levels of anxiety.

Pregnant women with higher depressive symptoms also reported feeling less attached to their unborn babies.

Social support has been determined by the researchers as a critical aspect to improving the mental wellbeing of expectant mothers. 

When support was given from partners, family and friends, women experienced fewer negative symptoms associated with depression and anxiety. 

The researchers hope this latest study will aid in future research about the ways the pandemic has affected children’s development, mothers’ mental health post-partum and the ways male parents coped throughout pregnancy and beyond. 

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For many of us, catching COVID and isolating at home can be a lonely, scary and distressing experience.

For those with a pre-existing mental illness, it can be even more difficult.

The following strategies are designed to help you look after your mental health if you get COVID and are isolating at home.

Remember the basics

When living in a time of great uncertainty and threat, it can be difficult to remember and practice simple strategies to maximise wellness.

If you’re isolating at home with COVID, it’s important to:

• manage fever and other symptoms like aches, pains and sore throat with paracetamol or ibuprofen
• maintain a healthy diet
• keep your fluid intake up, particularly if you have a fever
• stop exercise for at least 10 days, and depending on the severity of your symptoms, return to exercise slowly (if you have any questions about returning to exercise, ask your GP)
• deep breathing, which can help lung function and help you stay calm during isolation and recovery, but this should be done in consultation with your doctor
• practise mindfulness to help cope with the inevitable anxiety around illness and isolation
• find distractions like reading, watching movies or doing a creative activity, which can help keep your brain from fixating on worry (this is particularly important for children)
• and stay connected with friends and family, online or over the phone.

It’s important to monitor your COVID symptoms. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has a useful symptom diary to assist with this. Or use the Healthdirect symptom checker to decide whether you need medical help.

If you live alone, you should arrange for someone to contact you regularly to make sure you are managing.

Some coping strategies to avoid

During times of anxiety and uncertainty, such as isolating at home with COVID, it’s understandable people may turn to drugs and alcohol, unhealthy eating, gambling, or other addictions to manage psychological discomfort.

These strategies may temporarily alleviate stress. But they can cause more mental health issues in the longer term.

It’s also important to avoid “doom scrolling”, which is the tendency to continue to scroll through bad news on your mobile phone, even though the news is saddening, disheartening or depressing.

You might want to disengage from mainstream or social media if it has become harmful to your mental health.

It’s been extra hard for those with mental illnesses

The COVID pandemic has made living with mental illness even more difficult. The last few years have been challenging and exhausting for many. People with mental illnesses, and other chronic conditions, have had to adapt their normal management strategies to cope, shifting care and some forms of therapy online.

Recovery from, and management of, mental illness often involves activities like exercise, positive social engagement and therapy – all of which may be limited due to COVID restrictions, financial constraints and staff shortages.

Acute services, including hospitals and general practice, are struggling to meet demand.

Isolation can be particularly difficult for people who don’t have a safe and secure home. People experiencing domestic violence have more difficulty accessing care as they may not be safe interacting with health professionals in their homes.

Children are at increased risk of harm if they live with domestic violence. They may have no safe places to go when schools or childcare facilities are closed, so family, friends and services like Kids Helpline play an important role in supporting children.

Seeking help

There are many resources available to assist you if you’re isolating due to COVID.

Your GP can provide advice, help you navigate the health system and treat physical and mental health symptoms, via telehealth over the phone or online. Medicare rebates for telehealth are available if you have seen the GP face to face in the previous 12 months.

The National Coronavirus Helpline is a 24-hour service that provides free advice on how to seek medical help.

Beyond Blue offers a series of resources for adapting to the pandemic, including for Australians living overseas and people who speak languages other than English. The organisation also offers free counselling during the pandemic. Call 1800 512 348 to speak with a trained mental health professional, or chat online.

The federal government provides a free mental health service for people in Victoria, NSW and the ACT who’ve been affected by the pandemic. Call 1800 595 212 from Monday to Friday, 8:30am-5pm.

The Raising Healthy Minds app has information, ideas and guidance for parents to help them support their child’s mental health and well-being.

People who are experiencing domestic violence can access support through calling 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visiting the organisation’s website.

Each state and territory also offers a mental health service to help you access local support:

• ACT — Canberra Health Services Access Mental Health on 1800 629 354 or 02 6205 1065 (available 24/7)
• NSW — Mental Health Line on 1800 011 511 (available 24/7)
• NT — Northern Territory Mental Health Line on 1800 682 288 (available 24/7)
• Queensland — Mental health access line on 1300 642 255 (available 24/7)
• SA — SA COVID-19 Mental Health Support Line on 1800 632 753 (available 8am-8pm)
• Tasmania — Mental Health Service Helpline on 1800 332 388
• Victoria — Head to Help on 1800 595 212 (available 8:30am-5pm, Monday to Friday)
• WA — Mental Health Emergency Response Line on 1300 555 733 (metro) or 1800 676 822 (Peel) (available 24/7).

If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Louise Stone, General practitioner; Associate Professor, ANU Medical School, Australian National University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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In the days before my leave came to an end I’d started to receive a few messages on social media and via email on one subject more than any other. It was the same subject our older kids had raised often as the tally of friends and family diagnosed with Covid rapidly grew over the break.

What to do about school returning?

My very honest answer was that I didn’t know. The covid picture had changed so dramatically, so quickly, that I quite honestly didn’t know what should happen or what would happen. On returning to work I set about doing some research and background reading and made a few phonecalls.

For every piece I read that flagged health concerns for children amidst the Omicron outbreak, there was another flagging the serious adverse impacts that any further disruption would have on children. For every piece on the efficacy of the vaccines for children, there was another raising the need for better ventilation and air filters in schools.

I read that teachers, principals and schools right around the country are asking for certainty around access to masks, vaccine boosters and rapid antigen tests. They have flagged they are willing to work with state and federal leaders to devise plans to keep school staff safe and plan for continuity in the case of exposure.

I spoke to thoughtful doctors who disagreed vehemently; some said school cannot possibly return until the peak of Omicron passes, more children are vaccinated, teachers are boosted and additional measures are implemented to minimise the risk to teachers and children. Others said that the vaccines are incredibly effective and safe and that as long as teachers have access to boosters, N95 masks and RATs, the return to school is prudent.

Clear as mud was my impression. That just a few weeks from the school year commencing there could be so much uncertainty, so little clarity and so few plans for this entirely predictable dilemma that affects a great chunk of Australians struck me as deeply unnerving and insulting.

I wanted to test the temperature among parents and prepared a short survey. Within two days more than 3000 parents nationally had responded and their message was clear. Two thirds (66%) said they do NOT think it’s safe for children to return as planned and a further 14% said they’re not sure. Only one fifth of parents said ‘Yes’ they think it’s safe for children to return.

Now while some of these parents who responded may well hold qualifications in medicine, pathology, epidemiology and public health, it’s safe to assume many don’t. That two thirds of parents think it’s not safe for children to return doesn’t mean, necessarily, that it is unsafe for children to return. But it means that the vast majority of parents feel it is unsafe and that’s an issue every leader and expert needs to consider.

More than half of respondents said school should be delayed to allow precautions to be taken around the provision of masks, Rapid Antigen Tests and ventilation (56%), to allow the peak of Omicron to pass (52%) and to ensure more children can be vaccinated (51%). This is where parents are at; it is beholden on leaders to recognise this and meet them there.

Having spent almost two years heeding the strict message that keeping kids home was the best way to keep them and others safe from this virus, it is not surprising that against a backdrop of surging cases parents aren’t feeling confident or certain that returning as planned makes sense.

The leap of faith, from strict rules, remote learning and limited case numbers to very few restrictions and an exponential explosion in cases and hospitalisations in just a matter of weeks is whip-lash inducing. And evidently it’s not a leap teachers or parents are trusting.

Despite many health experts publicly calling for schools to open and return as planned, parents are far more worried about the health risk that covid poses to their child/ren (62%) than the impact of additional disruption on their child/ren’s well-being (36%).

Given the fear among parents, without a plan and leadership that recognises the genuine concerns of parents, families are going to be placed in an untenable position. Either they have to send their children notwithstanding their belief it’s not safe or they will have to keep their children home without necessarily having the support or resources for remote learning.

Comments from respondents make clear that very few parents want a return to home learning or school delayed; many pointed out that they suspect it would break their own mental health. But they want children to be back in schools safely more than they want their sanity protected.

And this is concerning because families are struggling. Almost three quarters of respondents (72%) rated the stress on their family/household right now due to covid as being either seven, eight, none or ten out of ten.

The mental and physical toll the pandemic has exacted from parents, particularly parents of primary school aged children, is well-documented. It is almost unforgivable that these same Australians are now being presented with this dilemma.

This is a moment for urgent constructive leadership among and between the Federal and state politicians. Parents, teachers and students need clear guidance that will instil them with the confidence they deserve that the safety of every person in school communities is being considered as paramount. Right now, very few parents have that and with just weeks to go before school is due to commence that’s unacceptable.        

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With Omicron daily infection rates in the tens of thousands, there have been calls for states to delay the start of the school year, which begins at the end of January.

The vaccination program for children aged 5-11 began on Monday but appointments are already being delayed. And even with everything running on time, not all children will have received their first dose by the time term 1 starts in the most affected states.

Queensland has moved its start date back by two weeks for younger students until February 7, with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk saying it is too risky for children to return on January 24, when the Omicron outbreak will likely peak. South Australia may also delay the school year start, although the details are still uncertain.

We know the known harms of school closures: decline in mental health, increase in obesity and child abuse, impaired social development, and of course the loss of learning. The longer-term harms we don’t know, but may include poorer job prospects and shorter life-span. This is a critical issue moreso for children in Victoria and New South Wales. Yet two years into this pandemic, we’re again discussing whether schools should be prioritised for opening.

Currently, children are not the main drivers of Omicron – it is the 20–29 year old age group . Although with mobility patterns changing after the holiday period, the age distribution may change. Previous studies have found school staff are at no higher risk of infection than the general population. This may be due to mitigation measures being in place at school, such as social distancing and mask mandates.

Transmission is most common in households. Studies have found secondary infections from children are lower in schools than in households, which is probably due to school mitigation measures.

Before Omicron, evidence for school closures reducing community transmission was inconclusive. And with Omicron infection currently existing in all settings, it is uncertain school closures will be effective in combating its spread.

Over summer, hundreds of thousands of spectators will attend major sporting events, while nightclubs, gyms and karaoke bars remain open. To suggest schools cannot open while these events go ahead says a lot about how we value children’s education.

Omicron seems less severe in children than Delta

For the vast majority of children, COVID has been a mild disease. We’ve seen severe disease occur more often with the Delta variant, but this is still rare.

Data on the severity of Omicron in children is still emerging. A US study suggests Omicron is less severe in children compared with Delta. Children are 70-80% less likely to attend an emergency department for care with Omicron infection and about 50-60% less likely to be hospitalised for treatment. Nevertheless, this is still being closely monitored.

Because Omicron is highly infectious, many more children will get infected, and a small percentage of them will be admitted to hospital. Often they may have COVID but be admitted for another reason. In the US, paediatric hospitalisations are at their highest rate than at any point during the pandemic with alarming headlines of exponential growth rates.

However, data from the state of New York on COVID hospitalisation shows that for children aged 0-4, rates have increased from 0.4 to 4 per 100,000 during Omicron. For children aged 5-11, the increase has been from 0.2 to 0.8 per 100,000. The increase for adolescents aged 12-18 has been from 0.1 to 1.5 per 100,000. Despite this exponential growth, these rates are very low.

Victoria has around 500,000 primary school-aged children and 500,000 secondary school students. Based on the US data, we can expect an equivalent of around 5-20 admissions with and for COVID per week in unvaccinated primary school age children and one to four admissions per week in unvaccinated teenagers in the coming month.

These numbers would decline rapidly with vaccination. This is the case even after a single dose, which is projected to provide over 80% protection.

Vaccinations are important in kids

Vaccination is good at preventing severe illness, even though severe illness is rare in primary school.

Of the children hospitalised in New York state, 91% of 5-11 year olds were unvaccinated and 4% fully vaccinated. There were few admissions in children who had received one or both doses of vaccine.

Among hospitalised 12-17 year olds, 65% were unvaccinated. And 55% percent of hospitalisations were in unvaccinated children aged 0-4.

Vaccination protects children from a serious, but rare and treatable, COVID-linked condition that involves inflammation of multiple organs (multi-system inflammatory syndrome, MIS-C). A French study found a single dose of mRNA vaccine reduced the risk of developing MIS-C in teenagers by 91% and there were no MIS-C cases in fully vaccinated teenagers.

A review compared the symptoms of illness in children who had COVID with those who didn’t. Several months after the acute infection, children who had had COVID were only slightly more likely than children who hadn’t to have headache, cognitive difficulties, loss of smell and sore throat. But there was no difference in previously COVID positive and COVID negative kids when it came to other symptoms such as abdominal pain, cough and fatigue.

These persistent symptoms after COVID infection are what’s considered as long COVID. But this does not mean they are permanent. It might mean they just take a little longer to resolve than acute symptoms. It is not known whether vaccination prevents this.

For school staff, two doses of the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccine provides moderately high protection (around 70%) against severe disease by Omicron, and this increases further after a booster (to around 90%). Hospitalisations occur primarily in unvaccinated, older people.

As most school staff are vaccinated, they are well protected from severe disease.

We need a national plan

Australia is way overdue for a national, sustainable way of living with COVID.

Although vaccines are highly effective against severe disease they provide little protection against Omicron infection itself, which is now the dominant variant.

So additional measures are needed to prevent infections and school outbreaks.

Staying home if symptomatic is critical and remain a policy. Symptom surveillance should be established. Infections will be more common in coming weeks, which means workforce planning is urgently needed in schools, as in all sectors.

Right now, testing and cohorting (split kids into groups in the classroom and allow no mixing across year levels) are key to limiting transmission.

New South Wales has launched a “test to stay” program. This reduces the number of close contacts required to isolate. If a child is in a cohort with someone who has tested positive, they have a rapid antigen test daily. If the test is negative and they have no symptoms, they can still attend school. All states should employ this system when there is high transmission in the community.

Social distancing of student desks and staff should be continued along with indoor masks for students and staff. Other mitigation measures such as improving airflow are important. More expansive measures using HEPA filters should be funded, but that should not delay schools reopening.

Schools should be classified as an essential service and be the first to open and the last to close. Managing to pull off the cricket and the tennis but not opening schools on time would be a policy failure.

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Australian children aged 5-11 are eligible to receive their COVID-19 vaccine from today.

For many parents, vaccinating their child is a shared decision with both parents agreeing to go ahead.

But not all parents agree.

As we roll out COVID vaccines to younger children this week, what options are there if one parent wants to vaccinate their child but the other doesn’t?

Why do parents disagree about COVID vaccines?

Before COVID, parents chose to vaccinate their children for a range of reasons. This included a feeling of social responsibility, a belief in the protective medical benefit and safety of vaccines, and possibly a financial incentive, driven by policies including “No Jab No Pay”.

However, for some, barriers to timely vaccination remain. For instance, childhood illnesses may have prevented vaccination, or it may be difficult to get to a vaccine clinic because of work commitments or lack of transport.

Others believe vaccination has unacceptable side effects or immunisation is ineffective in preventing disease. Others believe vaccines contain harmful substances, prefer natural or homeopathic alternatives, or mistrust medical evidence supporting the safety and efficacy of vaccination.

A minority of parents also falsely believe these apply to COVID-19 vaccines.

Why are disputes more of an issue now?

As we roll out COVID-19 vaccines to more children, vaccine disputes between parents may rise.

If parents disagree, what happens next partly depends on the age and maturity of the child.

For instance, teenagers aged 16 years and older are usually considered to have the capacity to consent for themselves. So if parents disagree, older teenagers with the capacity to consent can go ahead and get their shot anyway.

Where disputes are likely to arise is for younger children. For those aged 12-15, vaccinators like to see agreement from the adolescent to be vaccinated plus consent from the parent or guardian.

For children under 12, a parent or guardian needs to provide consent as young children are not deemed to have capacity to do so.

Written consent to vaccination is not required in Australia.

What happens next?

When parents disagree over whether to vaccinate their child, the child may be delayed in getting vaccinated or can remain unvaccinated until they can consent themselves.

Depending on the relationship between parents and whether it is safe to do so, parents can look together at reliable sources of information and answers to frequently asked questions about vaccination. These may address any misunderstandings or disagreements.

Seeking external advice from a neutral third party, such as a GP or specialist immunisation service, is also recommended. Other options include getting in touch with community organisations, such as family relationships organisations, or the Family Relationship Advice Line (1800 050 321). These may be able to advise about mediation.

If these methods fail, going to court may be the last resort. This comes with significant financial and emotional costs, so is best avoided.

Australia’s Family Court has set up a COVID-19 list to prepare for hearing disputes about children being vaccinated against COVID-19. The courts have already seen a rise in applications.

We can’t say for certain how the courts will decide. What we do know, however, is what happened when non COVID-19 vaccination disputes went to court.

The court has favoured vaccination

In research we have submitted for publication, we reviewed 27 cases involving parental disputes involving non COVID-19 immunisations. These went to court in Australia between 2002 and 2021.

In 21 of those cases, the court decided in favour of the parent who supported vaccination. In five cases, the court declined to make a decision due to a lack of medical expert evidence presented and asked this be gathered for future hearings. In only one case was parental responsibility awarded to the party opposing vaccination.

In all cases where traditional Western medical expert evidence was presented, the court decided in favour of the parent who supported vaccination.

n many cases, courts made statements on the individual and public benefits of immunisation. Common themes across judgements included:

• any potential risks of vaccination are greatly outweighed by the risk of harm from vaccine-preventable diseases
• failure of a parent to immunise exposes a child to risk of harm
• indirect benefits of immunisation to the community argues in favour of vaccination.

Many of these statements made about non COVID-19 vaccines also apply to COVID-19 vaccines.

Based on prior experience it seems likely courts will decide in favour of immunisation.

Start the discussion now

Almost 80% of Australian 12 to 15 year olds have had one dose of COVID vaccine and about 73% have had two doses. So if vaccine uptake in this age group is an accurate guide of parents’ views, we are likely to see similar high uptake in children aged 5-11.

Over 7 million children aged 5-11 in the US have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and over 4 million have had two doses.

Clinical trial data of children this age showed they made antibodies and the vaccine showed efficacy. Real-world data is anticipated. There have been no safety concerns to date.

So, if you haven’t already started talking about vaccinating your child, now is the time.

Grace Barbara, a 4th year medical student at the University of Sydney, conducted the review of legal cases and contributed to research mentioned in this article.

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Up to ten RATs will be provided free over three months to pensioners and those holding concession and health cards, the Prime Minister announced Wednesday, while anyone who does test positive will no longer be required to undertake a PCR test to confirm their diagnosis. Instead, they are asked to report the result to their doctor. It’s unclear yet how positive results will be tracked by states and territories.

A number of other requirements for PCR tests have been removed, including the pre-arrival tests for those requiring hospital treatment, the weekly test for truck drivers, and the second test for those arriving from overseas (other than in Queensland). All states (other than Western Australia, which did not participate in the cabinet meeting) have also agreed to remove interstate testing requirements.

Scott Morrison reiterated his stance that RATs will not be offered free to everyone.

“Universal free access was not considered the right policy response by all of the state and territories in attendance today, and the Commonwealth,” he told reporters following the Cabinet meeting.

He said anyone who is symptomatic or a close contact can still go to testing centres, “all those tests are free,” he said.

This is despite medical experts describing RATs as an “essential” tool for dealing with COVID-19, and urging them to be provided free.

Dr Omar Khorshid, President of the Australian Medical Association, said in a statement that current soaring case numbers are likely to represent just a fraction of actual infection rates. “There’s no time for piecemeal measures, like targeted subsidies which might be difficult to implement,” he said. “We need to harness the goodwill of the community to use RAT kits and free access for everybody.”

The Public Health Association of Australia’s Adjunct chief executive Prof Terry Slevin said that the work of public health and healthcare workers must not be diminished by allowing market forces to determine who can afford to get and use RATs during this health emergency. “Equity matters, as it does for every aspect of public health. The people most at risk from the pandemic are often least able to afford RATs, if they can find any.”

Morrison described the ten tests to be provided through pharmacies to concession card holders (held by around 6.6 million people) as “peace of mind” tests, with details to be finalised over the next two weeks. He also conceded that supply of these tests will continue to be constrained.

Morrison added that a national back-to-school plan will also be finalsed over the next fortnight and that, “we are all very shared in our view that schools go back and stay back, on day one of term one.”

He told reporters that the pandemic “throws up all the challenges and complete changes and omicron was a very big game changer.”

“We have no choice but to ride the wave. What is the alternative? What we must do is press on.”

Morrison has cancelled plans to take the next two weeks off. National Cabinet will meet again next week.

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Almost 270 childcare centres had already closed in NSW on Tuesday, according to the Sydney Morning Herald today, throwing return to work plans for parents into absolute chaos, as many then found themselves with young kids waiting in long queues to get the required PCR test.

The closure stats have quickly revealed to parents some of the challenges ahead for 2022. Especially with children under five unable to be vaccinated.

With staff set to be kept at home due to illness or isolation requirements, many centres may struggle to operate for weeks at a time.

Earlier this week, the NSW Department of Education gave updated advice to childcare centres indicating that directors must determine the likelihood of a child or educator contracting COVID-19 based on a risk matrix. That means it is up to directors to determine who is deemed high risk, and therefore their testing and isolation requirements.

The matrix notes that any child or staff member who has been indoors for a period of time with someone who then tests positive for COVID-19 is at a “high risk of infection”. Those deemed high risk will need to isolate until receiving a negative PCR test, and will not be able to return to an early childhood education setting for another seven days.  Those deemed as a ‘moderate risk’ will not be required to isolate, but are asked to do an at-home rapid antigen test.

Early childhood education staff and educators are already in short supply and have reported high levels of stress and burnout throughout the pandemic. They are now set to face even more challenges, given the likelihood of multiple outbreaks across their workplaces, and the need to manage concerns, pressures and demands from parents.

With more than 35,000 positive cases recorded in NSW tests today and many kids having not even started back in childcare from holidays, it’s clear there will be many, many more childcare centre closures in coming weeks.

NSW Health is yet to give advice regarding isolation and testing requirements for the state of the new year.

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We’re at the point in this Pandemic now where we just can’t turn around and make that decision, he added.

That point of the pandemic would be the one where we are getting tens of thousands of daily reported positive cases from the more traditional PCR testing means, and people being turned away from testing clinics after lining up for hours.

The point where 28 drive-through or walk-in PCR testing have been closed in Sydney “until further notice”, as staff try to clear the backlog of swabs taken.

Where children aged five to 11 are still days away from having the opportunity to get vaccinated, but where appointments in some areas for this age group are not available until March. 

And now we’re at the point where rapid antigen tests (RATs) that cost around $50 for a pack of five a few weeks back or $25 for a pack of two, are already being priced up by opportunistic retailers and bulk purchased by the likes of Harvey Norman.

The UK was offering free RATs, on a twice-weekly basis, back in April. Its COVID numbers (which are also at record numbers) include those who self-report the positive results they have recorded at home. Australia has no such self-reporting mechanisms in place, and with a more than one in five positive rate in NSW over the past couple of days, you can guess our own numbers would also be much higher if self-testing was taken into account. While daily case numbers may not be as useful as they once were, they can provide some kind of indication of what the impact might be on hospitals in the weeks to come.

But Australia’s Health Minister Greg Hunt says it’s “common sense” to limit the supply of free rapid tests. “If there were no constraints on that, then people would go down and take crates and boxes away,” he said.

On Sunrise, Scott Morrison said that “we have to live with this virus” and that these RATs are not medicine, they’re tests, and “there’s a difference between the two.”

He added the helpful reminder that tests are available for $15 and, as he “flagged weeks back”, they are “working on arrangements for concessional access to those who are pensioners and others.”

“We’ve invested hundreds of billions of dollars getting Australia through this crisis,” he said. “But we’re now in a stage of the pandemic where you can’t just make everything free because, when someone tells you they want to make something free, someone’s always going to pay for it and it’s going to be you.”

We haven’t heard much from the prime minister or the health minister these past few weeks, despite the skyrocketing COVID numbers. Morrison’s record on communication during a crisis has not been good, especially over the Christmas break. But with an election coming up one may have thought he’d get a little harder this holiday period.

It was not to be.

The arrogance of Morrison using the word ‘free’ in such a way, when referring to taxpayer dollars. The casual suggestion that Australians have been given enough “free stuff” during this pandemic. The ignorance of insinuating that $15 was a reasonable price, when such costs are out of the question for a significant portion of the population, and especially impossible if you’re hoping to test a family.

And then there was his own goal of admitting and reminding the media that he’s been working on concessional access ‘for weeks’, yet didn’t have any answers on what that would look like. Even with a few hundred cases of Delta circulating rather than the more highly contagious Omicron strain.

Planning for what’s ahead? We’re still not yet at that point in the pandemic.

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A new report by global women’s rights organisation, ActionAid Australia, reveals a dire situation facing garment workers in Bangladesh and Cambodia – two prominent garment producing countries for the Australian market.  Of the 200 workers surveyed as part of the research, most workers say their household has run out of money to buy food.  

With job cuts, wages slashed and rights at work under threat – COVID-19 is pushing garment workers further into poverty, hunger, and debt.

At the same time, Australian brands are returning to profitability after the supply chain disruptions and store closures caused by successive COVID lockdowns. In the 2020-21 fiscal year, Australian brands have made more than AU$1 billion in profit and this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales reached a record high of AU$8 billion.  Sadly, these profits aren’t trickling down to the workers in their supply chain.

The exploitation at the heart of the fashion industry

The ActionAid report Causalities of Fashion: How garment workers are wearing the cost of COVID-19 highlights how leading Australia and international fashion brands continue to push the costs of the pandemic onto the garment workers making their clothes – 80% of whom are women.

The report reveals that most workers were being paid well below a living wage before the pandemic hit.  In Bangladesh, 36% of workers surveyed lost their job as a result of the COVID19 and most workers who were terminated have not received severance pay.

Shelia, a garment worker and single mother from Bangladesh, was forced to take out loans to feed her family after she lost her job at a factory. Those who were lucky enough to stay in employment experienced a drop in wages, with workers in Bangladesh receiving 7.5 per cent less in pay due to COVID-19.

Almost all garment workers surveyed reported not earning enough to cover basic living costs for their families and many workers were forced to take on additional debt to cover basic household costs like food and rent.

Mom, who had worked in the Cambodian garment industry for 15 years, lost her job when her factory closed during the April 2021 lockdown. With minimal support from the Cambodian government and her employer, Mom was unable to cover basic living costs and was forced to take on additional debt that she now struggles to repay.

Garment workers across Bangladesh and Cambodia like Mom and Shelia have worn the cost of the pandemic.  ActionAid Australia is calling on Australian brands to stand with the workers that make their clothes and commit to building back better from the pandemic.

A Christmas Wishlist: A living wage and decent working conditions

 All workers deserve to be paid a living wage and have access to redundancy pay if they lose their job. Yet, this is rarely the case. All workers should earn enough to be able to provide for themselves and their family’s basic needs. Garment workers need a pay rise, and Australian brands can do better.

Despite these hardships, garment workers are continuing to advocate for better wages and decent working conditions. Here in Australia, we can support and amplify the demands of the workers that are making our Christmas gifts by calling on Australian brands to support the rights of all workers in their supply chain.

Find out more about ActionAid’s She Wears the Cost campaign here.

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Dr Chant used her time in front of the media at Wednesday’s COVID update to reiterate that she is continuing to strongly encourage people to wear masks when in indoor settings, calling it a “community-minded action”.

“From a public health position, I am strongly recommending we keep masks and I’m asking the community to do so,” Dr Chant said.

“It’s a small price to pay. I know it can fog up glasses and it can be annoying. But it’s a very tiny act. You’re actually protecting yourself but more importantly you’re protecting others.”

On Wednesday, the state government changed its rules so that masks are no longer legally required in NSW in most indoor settings, only in high-risk environments such as public transport or in airports.

“That simple action is very much a community-minded action, and I would urge us to continue to wear those masks in indoor settings,” Dr Chant said. “Secondly, just at this time think about the nature of settings you chose for your functions. Picnics, outdoor cafes, we’ve got a beautiful environment now that it’s stopped raining, so use those settings – they are much lower risk.”

On Thursday, NSW reported 1,742 cases, the highest daily number recorded for the state since the pandemic began. No new deaths were reported. There are 192 people in hospital and 26 of those are intensive care.

The number of hospitalisations has increased by 26 patients since Wednesday.

As his government dropped its mask mandate for most indoor settings, Premier Dominic Perrottet said the government had considered Dr Chant’s health advice regarding masks, but the decision was about “balance”.

“We recommend masks. We’ve taken the advice into account. It’s always a balance in terms of the approach the government takes and that’s the decision we’ve made,” Perrottet said.

“As we’re heading into this Christmas period … there’s no doubt shopping centres will be busier we just say please take personal responsibility.”

Perrottet also said people in NSW should shift their thinking, away from concerns about daily case numbers, to a focus on hospitalisations and ICU numbers.

“What we’re saying today is that we are learning to live alongside the virus. Vaccination has been key to that. The key message today for the people of NSW is thank you for the efforts you’ve made, in addition that, please continue to take personal responsibility.”

Dr Chant reminded people that as the Omicron variant continues to spread across the state, it’s possible to be infectious even if you don’t realise yet that you have the virus.

“I’d just remind you that often don’t know you’ve got Covid and you’re infectious. You’re infectious before you even get symptoms,” she said.

“We do want to preserve Christmas. I know many people have had their Christmas plans interrupted and this may be the first time people are able to reunite across state borders or boundaries.

“So please just limit your activities and your social networks and your interactions. Be safe in that time so we can keep those special occasions not impacted by COVID.”

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