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

Far from being liberal, Australia has behaved in a totalitarian manner throughout. I have no sympathy for tennis players trying to get the country to change its rules - rules are rules after all - but the thinking behind them is not liberal. The country is denying people their basic human rights just as the UK government has denied us ours. These have been whisked away in the interests of protecting an NHS that has been asset stripped in years of under-investment. How people can be so blinkered as to believe otherwise I have no idea. What I do know is that all those I have come into contact with as bereavement therapist and who have been unable to visit/say goodbye to their loved ones certainly feel their human rights have been trampled on.

Sick children should not suffer because of something their parents have or haven’t done. Masked visitors with negative tests should be permitted to be with and comfort their children. Of course they should also be encouraged to have the vaccine.
This type of thing is exactly why I would never return to Australia having been there in the past.

Can children visit elderly parents?
WA currently has a chaotic health system so maybe sensible

Two of my DC live in Perth. As it is one of the most remote major city in the world the powers that be were able to man the barricades and allow only the most essential traffic over the borders (with exceptions for sportsmen and celebrities)
They were due to allow in vaccinated visitors, this month, but have now changed their minds.
My family is of the opinion that it's time to accept that they can't stay isolated for ever, and they should open up the borders. Families have been kept apart for too long.
As for keeping sick children apart from their families.....even if they got vaccinated the child would probably be due for discharge, in many cases, before the vaccine became effective. As long as tests are done I see no reason to prevent visits.

Callistemon21

^They are doing something right.^

Is this the right thing to do though? Or a step too far?
Why now? Is it because their measures did not work anyway?

These children must be very frightened.

Well, the parents know what to do, then. Just get vaccinated

greenlady102

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?

I think I probably would greenlady because in my life I have always put my children's needs first.

As Headmistress I have occasionally acted in loco parentis for a child in hospital. The minute the parent is present the change in mood in the child is palpable and indescribable.
I would prefer that tests determined whether the unvaccinated parent can visit. A child, while being disappointed, will accept the situation if there is a positive result, but not otherwise.

Alegrias1 I don't think we ever thought Australia was Liberal! Libertarian possibly. I have no problem with compulsory vaccination before entering any public space, be it shop, hospital, cinema, theatre. A vaccine passport is required in much of Europe. It is tragic that hospitalised children cannot see their parents, it is tragic when someone dies unnecessarily of Covid. I note that vaccination for measles has also dropped off here, which is extremely worrying. x

I would want what is best for my children and if we can't have confidence in the medical profession what hope is there.

I agree Daisend1. In the UK I currently have no confidence in our government and little confidence in the judiciary. If we cannot trust the medical professionals, who literally hold our lives in their hands, then we really are doomed. Sorry to sound melodramatic but that’s how I feel!

This is punishing kids for having parents who won't comply; I was in hospital as a 6 year old when parents were only allowed in twice a week. I was scared (once I'd come round from being unconscious for a week), lonely and bored. I didn't realise that my Mum wasn't allowed to visit and nobody explained. I never forgave her until I found out what the circumstances were.

Surely children receiving vaccines in school prior to Covid must be a known in Australia. Probably part and parcel of being allowed entry to schooling.

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.

The TB vaccine used in the UK 'is 70-80% effective against the most severe forms of TB, such as TB meningitis. However, it is less effective in preventing the form of TB that affects the lungs'. vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/vk/bcg-vaccine.
Depending on which country the doctor came from, a different vaccine may have been used. I find it hard to believe that said doctor did not have to prove their vaccination status on appointment. Unfortunately vaccines are not infallible

The answer is just get vaccinated. Surely no one wants to put a sick child at any more risk. The parent have to decide what’s important.

I don't believe that the state should intervene to that degree.

Making vaccinations compulsory is not the way to go IMO.

Where does it end?

Given how many people in the UK have contracted covid despite being vaccinated (myself included) surely it would make more sense that ANY person visiting ANYONE should have a negative covid test regardless of whether they are vaccinated?
It doesn't stop you getting covid or being asymptomatic.
It seems bonkers to me.

Well said, Purplepoppies

I tested today because I was going to meet with other people, some of whom are quite elderly and it was a requirement, even though I have been triple vaccinated.
We all wore masks too, although I notice that people took them off to speak as I did (not just to chat).

4allweknow

Surely children receiving vaccines in school prior to Covid must be a known in Australia. Probably part and parcel of being allowed entry to schooling.

Not in private schools I believe.

They do vaccinate more than in the UK, eg the chickenpox vaccination is on the list, Hep B for newborn babies then at ages 2 months, 4 months and 6 months.
Pregnant mothers are given a course of antibiotics prior to giving birth.
Two month old babies are given flu, rotavirus, pneumonia, tetanus vaccines as well as the ones we would give in the UK.

and so on so by the time a baby is 18 months old it will have received 36 vaccinations of various types.

Casdon

Through the whole pandemic there have been 9 deaths from Covid in the whole of Western Australia. People have maintained their freedoms throughout apart from a couple of snap lockdowns. They are doing something right.

Freedoms? Yes, inside WA. But you can't currently travel to there from other states. Many families are split because of this. They have been so very strict. Yes, low numbers of infection and deaths, which is great, but at what cost? My great friend in Fremantle is wondering when it will ever feel normal again.

My daughter lives in WA, they live two and a half to three hours out of Perth. They only have a small hospital within reach and that only deals with minor problems, staffed by nurses and the local doctor. Zoom meetings are needed if a more specialised doctor's help is needed or it's a trip to Perth. They also have the Flying Doctor and /or a helicopter. Both based in Perth.
One of the main worries is that if lots of people catch covid the main hospital is in Perth and it wouldn't cope with massive numbers.
They are fully vaccinated but she knows of mums that are breastfeeding who won't have the jab and others saying that they want to see what the vaccine does to people in a few years time before having it. Her daughter is in nursery with little ones who have unvaccinated parents. There is only one nursery in the town and my daughter works three days a week.
The thought of scared, ill children in hospital, some too young to understand breaks our hearts but we can see the other side too.
They have been so strict there......still waiting to meet our 20 month old granddaughter.

My brother lives in WA and says he has to wear a mask almost everywhere plus have a covid passport to go out to eat. I do not agree with children not having their parents with them. Very dictatorial in my view.

I think that there is a chance that Australia may have been too careful. Having all the borders closed has prevented a lot of people getting it and a lot of deaths , but might it have prevented the virus mutating and becoming much milder as the omicron variety has here and elsewhere ? When they open the borders covid might run riot despite vaccines .

Perth is the most remote city in the world though Suzan05, so being able to live a relatively normal life for the last two years has been great for the population. Of course they now want to get back to a normal life, but don’t we all! I don’t know about the hospital provision in Perth itself, my sister works at Joondalup north of Perth, which is a very large hospital, I think it has over 700 beds.

Thisismyname1953

I think that there is a chance that Australia may have been too careful. Having all the borders closed has prevented a lot of people getting it and a lot of deaths , but might it have prevented the virus mutating and becoming much milder as the omicron variety has here and elsewhere ? When they open the borders covid might run riot despite vaccines .

When they opened the borders between NSW and Queensland for Christmas and NY for those who had been vaccinated, cases rose in Queensland

11th December 2021:
Queensland has reopened its road borders to all interstate travellers now the state has passed its 80 per cent COVID-19 double vaccination milestone.
The biggest change to Queensland's rules is opening up to fully vaccinated travellers from interstate hotspots, with no requirement to quarantine for 14 days regardless of whether they arrive by air or by road.

But before being allowed to enter Queensland, they must provide a negative COVID-19 laboratory test result received within the previous 72 hours.

Despite that, cases rose in Queensland and continue to rise.

I find it hard to believe that said doctor did not have to prove their vaccination status on appointment. Unfortunately vaccines are not infallible.

Who are you not believing? Me, the health visitor who came with the news, or the staff at the hospital who did the various tests on the babies and were very apologetic throughout?

Yes!