Western Australia bans unvaccinated parents from visiting their sick children in hospitals

GagaJo

Alegrias1

Australia is not as liberal as many think.

This. 100 times this. ??????

Ask any refugee or asylum seeker how liberal Aus is, while they're incarcerated on Nauru.

????????

But what risk is it if we are vaccinated. I spend all my working hours with 'the unvaccinated', young children, I dont feel at risk because of their non vaccination status, because I am vaccinated.

Doodledog

Callistemon21

If people complaining about illiberality had a grandchild in hospital (particularly a clinically vulnerable grandchild) would they be happy to have unvaccinated visitors around them?

The parents - if they have been tested before going in and/or had had Covid and recovered - are not just any visitors.

I know, and it’s a difficult situation, although to others in the ward they are just ‘any visitors’. My feelings are based on how I felt when my own baby was put at risk by an unvaccinated person, and much as I understand the civil rights issue, that is difficult to shake off.

An unvisited child will, I hope, get better and go home to her parents - a child who dies as a result of contact with an unvaccinated visitor won’t.

I'm not sure why any unvaccinated parent would be anywhere near any other child than their own.
They're not crowded in huge wards.

Doodledog

I suppose that depends on whether they were vulnerable in the first place, like the babies on the SCU when my son was born.

That does sound distressing Doodledog.

I know people who have been in hospital or visited dying relatives in Australian hospitals and the rules seem to vary greatly from State to State.

(^and I am pretty sure the Australian government wont be consulting either you or me^)

It's not a Federal Government decision, I think it is just WA. Other States may follow although the Queensland MOH tried to put people off the Astra Zeneca vaccine, thereby worrying a lot of people who may have refused to be vaccinated as a result.

Just this morning I heard that a young Australian friend of mine, originally from WA, but currently in Melbourne has waited 10 months and had been given 6 refusals before being given the go ahead to rejoin her family in Western Australia.

That is so sad. However, the other patients may be extremely vulnerable/immunocompromised and the hospital has a duty to protect them. Whilst it is recognised that vaccines don't stop the risk, they do reduce the risk alongside PPE.
I feel terribly for those children who are separated from their parents when they need them.

I do wonder if such stringent rules are just delaying the inevitable? Covid is here to stay.also I never understood the logic behind stopping people from visiting a dying loved one? THEYRE DYING!! How many times can you get killed by this virus?! Then allow time as long as you like with them deceased when ten minutes before- they weren't and so needed you? Inhuman and frankly bloody stupid!!!

If the children are already in a weakened state the last thing they need is a visitor who exposes them to additional risks. The policy is right.

Well they better get vaccine then ! No problem at all really is there? Good for Australia ??

Difficult question. I suspect it depends on the individual case because some parents would be an asset at the bedside and others would not be. But I wouldn't want a child surrounded by other visitors (or staff) in a public ward who were unvaccinated. The problem of the unvaccinated is not susceptible to short term measures like PR and compulsion: like many other problems it needs a massive effort in the education system so that people acquire the ability to spot crooked thinking.

I'm tired about hearing about 'Freedom for unvaccinated people'. What about the the freedom for people who work in hospitals? How do you think they feel when they have to risk their lives and the lives of their families for people who think they know better?
People who are working hard in hospitals don't have time to set up public demonstrations, let us speak up for them!

I hope I am not the only one who is alarmed at the pro-vaccination dogma and propaganda. Dissenting voices from qualified professionals have been silenced, and the matter is presented as totally black/white. You're either a responsible, sensible PRO Vax, or a crazy ANTI-Vax, regarded as a conspiracy-theorist and even lumped together with Q-anon etc. The truth is far more nuanced. The vaccine has caused more harm than we have been told. Covid is treatable in many other ways. It troubles me that so few people seem to see the danger we are in as a society and how this is being exploited. Our fear is being used to control us, and I think we should ask ourselves whom this is serving.

Personally I think it’s the sensible thing to do to get vaccinated provided one is fairly confident, as I am, that the vaccine will do no harm. I have had all my vaccines, as did my children (and long ago when young). However I do think that bodily autonomy is an inalienable right and we go down a very slippery slope towards an Orwellian nightmare if we begin to remove those rights from the population. I am horrified that Australia has done this, without apparent regard for the long term psychological health of those involved, and am glad I don’t live there! It is bad enough that the government here are continuing to impose severe and rather ridiculous restrictions on care homes, as reported in various newspapers, far and above what the rest of us have now.

But I wouldn't want a child surrounded by other visitors (or staff) in a public ward who were unvaccinated.

Vaccinated people can still carry the virus and pass it on.

If tests and PPE work, why not insist on parents testing and using PPE?
And in what hospital are children in huge wards with visitors surrounding them?

Doodledog

This is one of those difficult situations where one person's rights conflict with another's.

If people complaining about illiberality had a grandchild in hospital (particularly a clinically vulnerable grandchild) would they be happy to have unvaccinated visitors around them?

I've posted this story before, but when my son was born he spent his first few days on a special care unit because it was a difficult birth. He was a strong baby, but others in the unit were tiny premature babies or had other problems. One of the doctors on the SCU had come from abroad, and claimed to have had TB vaccinations. This wasn't true, and it turned out that the doctor was infected. All the special care babies, including my son, were brought in for regular X rays, blood tests and prophylactic medicine. He was less than a month old.

I will never forget how helpless we felt, and how awful it was to know that if the doctor had had a vaccination we would not be going through the weeks of worry we had. As it turned out my son was ok, but that was down to luck.

I am pretty hard line about vaccinations, probably because of that incident, as I really wouldn't want any parents to have to go through it. If that means that those who have opted out of the vaccination programme can't see their children, that might be a price worth paying so that other, arguably more responsible, parents don't lose theirs altogether.

We had a similar issue when DD2 was born. She was premature and small for dates (my Mum was dying and died that week). Eventually made it home to receive a call saying a nurse from prem unit had TB. Very scary time though it turned out that it was a different hospital.

I am due to have what may turn out to be major surgery that was due in early January. I am keeping my head down, despite the discomfort, as I am wary of unvaccinated staff. If I end up with the more intrusive surgery the last thing I want is covid, even the milder version.

My oldest son is autistic and went to a special school. He was born in 1991 and had the MMR the following year as we were all advised to. We have video footage to show how he from a normal, happy baby to an unhappy, disabled toddler. I have never said the MMR caused the autism but exacerbated what may otherwise have remained dormant in a vulnerable case. We found out years later that in a child with asthma and allergies, as he was, caution should have been exercised with this particular vaccine. It was early days for the MMR and there were some bad batches at this time. We feel he was probably affected by one of these. We will never know. Our second son had the first MMR vaccine but not the booster as reports were coming out about possible dangers of it by then. Our daughter, born in 1996, did not have the MMR but we paid for her to have the measles and rubella vaccines a year apart. I am definitely not anti-vaccine and think everyone who is able to should have the covid vaccine but I do think that, if parents take tests that prove they are negative, then they should be allowed to be with their children in hospital.

Really tough question !

I do not think vaccines should EVER be mandated, however, if vaccines are taken by 90% of the population there’s a good chance of some outbreaks of disease aka measles and TB both made a comeback here in the UK, measles can be a very nasty disease and is very contagious.

Very sad for the children, what if the parents couldn’t have the vaccine for medical reasons ?

They certainly have a better record for Covid than us as does NZ whose government are also raged at by many citizens.

150,000 dead in the UK and Covid still with us and many still quite unwell and suffering long term affects yet we are acting like it’s gone forever !

Sorry re last post should read “unless 90% of population have their vaccines ….” Need an edit button please !

Perth Childrens Hospital current rules and advice:
One unvaccinated essential visitor will be allowed to enter the hospital to accompany their baby or child with additional public health safety measures in place. These will be advised when you arrive. Please allow some extra time.

If you are an unvaccinated standard visitor, you will not be allowed to enter.

It sounds as if one unvaccinated person will be allowed in with a child as long as they allow time for a test to be carried out and to put on PPE gear.
It doesn't say if the essential visitor will be allowed to return again to see their distressed child.

They certainly have a better record for Covid than us as does NZ whose government are also raged at by many citizens.

I think they've been trying to hold back the waves - let's hope the worst variants are over before a deluge hits them (which it seems to be now).

Undines absolutely agree with you! A little bit of research shows thousands of adverse events from this vaccine, cardiac and neurological particularly, some quite serious, and whilst this information wasn’t available initially people can now make a more informed decision based on their own medical history. Some had an adverse reaction to their first vaccination which made them anxious to take any more. These are not anti-vaxers - why would they have gone for the first one if they were?! Everyone has their own reasons and those who have been fully vaccinated should not be worried by the unvaccinated as they have protected themselves hopefully. Equally the unvaccinated should not be persecuted for making an informed choice. I can think of nothing worse than a sick child being in hospital and parents not being able to visit, it’s emotionally damaging to both, the same as not being able to be with a dying relative.

nterested

I'm tired about hearing about 'Freedom for unvaccinated people'. What about the the freedom for people who work in hospitals? How do you think they feel when they have to risk their lives and the lives of their families for people who think they know better?
People who are working hard in hospitals don't have time to set up public demonstrations, let us speak up for them!

Yes yes yes !! Agree 100%

Josieann

That is so sad, and in my mind the wrong thing to do. It could set child against parent, feeling rejected at a time when they need them most.
Very frightening and scarred for life.

but would you not get vaccinated if your child needed you?

We can’t compare the UK to Australia or NZ. We are an overcrowded island, they are sparsely populated compared to us.