What about the children for whom a vaccine hasn't yet been approved?
"They are a very low risk group," Prof McBryde said.
"Their risk of getting severe disease or dying is in the order one per 100,000 cases compared with the over 70s which is one in 20.
"That’s not to say we shouldn’t offer additional protections, like parents and teachers getting vaccinated, but the issue is if we vaccinate everyone other than children we can virtually achieve herd immunity and we're left with a disease that is of the same magnitude as the influenza virus.
"The idea of locking down because of children would cause far more harm that benefit."
What about other pockets of the population that don't match federal vaccination rates?
"In Townsville and Cairns the rates of Indigenous vaccinations are very, very low and that's very concerning," Prof McBryde said.
"We know that they are potentially a vulnerable group because of remoteness, large household sizes in small communities and fluidity between households.
"It's likely COVID-19 would spread rapidly and there are also higher rates of co-morbidity, so that’s a very vulnerable group.
"The solution is a local and tailored solution that suits that community's needs and comes from their leadership group.
"It's similar with communities who are new Australians and don’t necessarily speak English and have sources of information that aren’t mainstream.
"There's about 400,000 people aged over 70 who have decided not to get vaccinated.
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"We're seeing in New South Wales that the hospitalisations and deaths are almost exclusively in people who are not vaccinated.
"The vaccines are working.
"We also need to open vaccinations up to the over 12s.
"At the end, there will be a group of hardcore people who know the risks but still won't get vaccinated."
Children from 12 to 15 years will be able to book their Pfizer vaccinations from 13 September.
Lifting lockdowns: Local epidemiologist explains what Cairns can expect - TropicNow
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