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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-02-19 Daily Xml
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Vaccination

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (15:01): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing about vaccinations.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS: As someone who has accessed flu vaccinations provided in Parliament House for many years and who has also recently qualified for further vaccinations due to my age, I ask the minister if he can update the council regarding the importance of vaccination?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:02): I thank the honourable member for his question and commend him for his diligence in getting a vaccination. The Marshall Liberal government believes that immunisation against vaccine-preventable diseases is a crucial public health initiative which saves and protects lives. That is why the government introduced the meningococcal B vaccination and catch-up program, the first in the world for adolescents and the first in Australia for infants. That is why we introduced free flu vaccines for under-fives. That is why we have introduced legislation to exclude non-immunised children from early childhood centres.

The damage done by a lack of immunisation is starkly demonstrated by the recent outbreak of the measles in Samoa, which produced such tragic consequences for the Samoan community. Let me put it in context by reminding members of the relatively small size of the Samoan community. Here in South Australia 1.75 million people live. For all of 2019, there were only four recorded cases of measles in this state. In other words, that is one case for 437,000 people.

In contrast, around 200,000 people live in Samoa. In the three months from October to December last year, more than 5,500 cases of measles were recorded in Samoa and in excess of 80 deaths. That is one case for every 36 Samoans. Our thoughts are with the people of Samoa for the loss and the trauma they experienced. The outbreak placed a very heavy burden on the Samoan public health system. During peak periods there were 150 presentations to the hospital per day, with a very high mortality rate.

I am proud to say that South Australia stepped into this crisis to support our Pacific neighbour. With us today are South Australian members of the health team; staff from the South Australian Ambulance Service, MedSTAR, the Women’s and Children’s Hospital and the Central Adelaide Local Health Network; all were deployed to Samoa as part of the Australian Medical Assistance Team, commonly known as AUSMAT. Members of the Metropolitan Fire Service also provided logistical support. Across the team, there were doctors, nurses, logisticians, a radiographer and team leaders. Their work extended beyond treating or vaccinating against measles to include the treatment of complications that can ensue in severe cases.

I understand that this was a very difficult deployment, with a very high human toll. I cannot imagine the trauma of caring for babies and young children who then die. I want to thank each and every one of our South Australian volunteers. They put themselves in very stressful circumstances at a time when most of us were getting ready to spend Christmas with our loved ones. Thousands of vaccinations were provided to Samoans, which helped to stabilise the outbreak, and these efforts have proved successful. The immunisation rate in Samoa is now 95 per cent. As members might remember, I aspire to that for South Australians.

South Australia can be proud of these volunteers who represented our state and our nation abroad. Each of the volunteers and their families should be proud of the spirit and resilience they showed in going to the aid of Samoa. I am in awe of their compassion, their expertise in public health and their professional health care. This is the team, along with other South Australian health clinicians, that is protecting us as we face COVID-19, commonly known as coronavirus. We are in good hands.

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