Until recently, the community of Moree in northwestern New South Wales (NSW) had largely avoided COVID-19 outbreaks, including the highly infectious delta strain. Then, around a month ago, COVID fragments were discovered in the local sewage. The first person tested was positive for COVID. Many panicked, and with good reason. Within two weeks, the town had more than 150 cases.

Aboriginal health worker Zoe Duke, who works at a makeshift COVID testing and vaccination site on the outskirts of Moree, says that nearly 97% of those who have tested positive are Aboriginal people, and a third are children under 11.

Many Aboriginal People Are Not Vaccinated

Nursing manager Ros Rose of the Pius X Aboriginal Corporation says that many Aboriginal people are unvaccinated by choice–just one in five are fully vaccinated–but that the outbreak has prompted some to rethink their stance. “I’ve spoken to one of the patients that have had [COVID] and he said it’s the worst thing he’s ever had in his life. Unvaccinated. And he said if he had his time over again, he’d be vaccinated,” she said. 

Why Indigenous Communities Are More at Risk

Despite representing just 3.4% of the population, Indigenous people make up 8.3% of COVID cases reported since June, states NSW Health. UNSW epidemiologist Dr. Kalinda Griffiths references multiple factors that put First Nations communities at higher risk during outbreaks. “This is due to the younger age distribution, higher rates of underlying conditions that can impact disease severity caused by COVID, as well as less access to services,” she says. “Add on top of all that a lower rate of vaccination, and what you have is a perfect storm.”

According to Kareena Poppy-Kyle, a practice manager at the Moreton Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service, vaccine bookings have increased steadily since nine Aboriginal people tested positive in NSW overnight. Many of her Queensland patients have family in NSW, “so seeing their family down there and seeing the community outbreak, a lot of them are getting [the vaccine],” she said. “We’re seeing about 20 or so people a day.”

The Government’s Role

Adrian Carson, chief executive of the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health, has his own theory about the low vaccination rate. “There wasn’t any data available to support communities, to kind of inform their choice about vaccination,” he said. “Lots of percentages were getting thrown around, plenty of politicians talking, but none of it cut through a lot of the misinformation that was out there, particularly on social media, to actually make the threat real to our communities.” 

Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath says the state government has been proactive in boosting Indigenous vaccination rates. D’ath has traveled to several First Nations communities in recent weeks to counteract vaccine hesitancy and clear up misinformation. “This approach is delivering results, with Queensland Health administering 10,385 doses to First Nations Queenslanders in the last week compared to 2,000 the week before,” she said.

“If we could sit down and talk them through it, then people would make the decision—the vast majority—to be vaccinated, and that’s definitely been the experience [so far],” said Carson. 

“We don’t want to see what happened in NSW, where it wasn’t until people started to pass away, that we saw this huge uplift in vaccination rates. We want to see that demand now.”

*Archibald-Binge, E. (2021, Nov. 16). Why COVID-19 Is Infiltrating Indigenous Communities. ABC News Australia. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-16/why-covid-19-is-infiltrating-indigenous-communities/100625424

Much about the novel coronavirus, i.e., COVID-19, is still not fully understood. As research progresses and our knowledge of the virus increases, information can change rapidly. We strive to update all of our articles as quickly as possible, but there may occasionally be some lag between scientific developments and our revisions.