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Speaker 1: Well, cases of life threatening of a life threatening respiratory

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Speaker 1: virus of skyrocketed in the Northern Territory and locals don't

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Speaker 1: have the option is what some do interstate to access

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Speaker 1: a subsidized JAB Now a report in the paper earlier

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Speaker 1: in the week saying that the vaccine costs three hundred

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Speaker 1: and fifty dollars a pop. Meanwhile, RSV it is the

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Speaker 1: most common cause of hospitalization for children aged under five

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Speaker 1: in Australia and it's already affected one thousand Territorians this

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Speaker 1: year from five hundred and ninety nine last year. Now

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Speaker 1: joining me on the line is Immunization Foundation of Australia

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Speaker 1: Director Katherine Hughes. Good morning to you, Catherine.

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Speaker 2: Morning Katie, Thanks.

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Speaker 1: So much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: Catherine.

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Speaker 1: First off, how prevalent is RSV.

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Speaker 2: I see is one of the most common respiratory illnesses

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Speaker 2: that we have and both other year in Australia has

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Speaker 2: seen over eighty thousand cases around the country, Like you said,

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Speaker 2: one thousand in the Northern Territory. That's that's double what

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Speaker 2: we had last year. So it's very common.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, they're big numbers and you know, I think to

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Speaker 1: anybody that's either got little ones or have family that

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Speaker 1: have little ones, you know, nieces and nephews or friends.

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Speaker 1: It like, it does seem to be something that is

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Speaker 1: becoming more common. When my kids were a little sort

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Speaker 1: of ten to thirteen years ago, I didn't feel like

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Speaker 1: it was as prevalent at that point in time.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think, you know, a long time ago. Really

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Speaker 2: we were told it was bronchio ardis pneumonia, so it

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Speaker 2: must we were certainly around back then just as much

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Speaker 2: as it is now, But we didn't know. I guess

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Speaker 2: as parents what the bug was that was causing this

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Speaker 2: pneumonia and bronchiolardis and our little kids. So we are

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Speaker 2: seeing a lot of it now. Obviously we are testing

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Speaker 2: more for it, and we're more familiar now with this

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Speaker 2: RSV term. And you know, it's what sad Nearly twelve

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Speaker 2: thousand little babies to hospital every single year.

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Speaker 1: And you know, there is there is nothing tougher than

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Speaker 1: seeing your little one gasping for air, and it is

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Speaker 1: you know, it is such a difficult, difficult thing. You know,

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Speaker 1: when your little ones do get really sick and something

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Speaker 1: like this RSV is it it's a really sort of

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Speaker 1: tough one to watch. And quite hard to deal with,

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Speaker 1: isn't it, Catherine?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, it's really traumatic. We had our daughter hospitalized

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Speaker 2: for two nights when she was just three weeks old,

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Speaker 2: and I think that was extra traumatic because we've actually

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Speaker 2: lost a child to a different respiratory infection eighteen months

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Speaker 2: earlier to hoop and class. So, you know, I've spoken

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Speaker 2: with so many families who have watched their little babies,

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Speaker 2: you know, being inch svated, turned blue, have collapsed lungs,

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Speaker 2: and some of them, you know, they get discharged from

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Speaker 2: hospital and they can recover okay, but others will have

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Speaker 2: long term respiratory issues like wheezing an asthma, So it

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Speaker 2: could be just really nasty and very traumatic for parents

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Speaker 2: to watch. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Look, I can't even imagine, you know how tough it

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Speaker 1: was for you as a family unit going through such

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Speaker 1: a tragic loss, and then watching your daughter, you know,

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Speaker 1: going through and trying to battle RSV. And you know,

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Speaker 1: the really sad part about it is you're certainly not alone,

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Speaker 1: are you. There are so many families that have had

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Speaker 1: to deal with this.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, it impacts so many Australian families, Like I said,

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Speaker 2: nearly twelve thousand babies every year, around sixteen thousand children

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Speaker 2: every year, and it also impacts on older Australians which

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Speaker 2: as well, so it can affect people of any ages.

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Speaker 2: And it's just look, it's just something you don't want

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Speaker 2: your baby to have.

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Speaker 1: And Catherine the you know, I guess the interesting part

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Speaker 1: about this is there is actually, you know, there is

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Speaker 1: the ability to get your child immunized against RSV, but

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Speaker 1: for some of us, and for us here in the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory, it's not something that's currently subsidized.

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Speaker 2: That's right. We're in this sort of new exciting era

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Speaker 2: of prevention where he else can actually prevent RSB in

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Speaker 2: infants and in older adults. But you know, there are

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Speaker 2: problems with access. So unfortunate I live in Western Australia.

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Speaker 2: If you live in Queensland, your baby can receive an

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Speaker 2: immunization at birth and that will protect them in that

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Speaker 2: first year of life from RSB when they're really really vulnerable.

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Speaker 2: But if you live in Northern Territory, Victoria, South Australia,

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Speaker 2: other states, you can't access this. And so I really

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Speaker 2: believe immunization should be funded federally and that all Australian

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Speaker 2: babies should access this immunization for babies. And then you know,

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Speaker 2: if you're an older adult, you can certainly purchase a

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Speaker 2: vaccine if you're aged sixty class, but it's really you know,

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Speaker 2: it costs over three hundred dollars and that's not affordable

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Speaker 2: for many Australians.

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Speaker 1: It's truly not like we're battling through a cost of

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Speaker 1: living crisis at the moment. And you know, when you

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Speaker 1: think to yourself as a parent, you literally do anything

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Speaker 1: you can to try to keep each children safe. You know,

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Speaker 1: you would forego the majority of your groceries for a

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Speaker 1: week if it meant that you were able to actually

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Speaker 1: pay that three hundred and fifty dollars. And even for

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Speaker 1: our seniors that are potentially on a pension, you know,

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Speaker 1: you think they would like that is a huge, huge

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Speaker 1: chunk of your pension payment to be paying three hundred

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Speaker 1: and fifty dollars to get that immunization. I totally agree

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Speaker 1: with you. I think this needs to be across the

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Speaker 1: board available to all lossies.

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Speaker 2: And we've just spent some time in Camber this week

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Speaker 2: with MPs and politicians and really advocated that we need

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Speaker 2: these vaccines on the National Immunization Program so that all

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Speaker 2: Australians can access at no cost.

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Speaker 1: And what's been the response from the federal government in

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Speaker 1: this space, Catherine.

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Speaker 2: They've been pretty receptive. You know, it won't happen in

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Speaker 2: time for this RSB season, you know, potentially in time

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Speaker 2: for next year, who knows finger class we will see

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Speaker 2: free access for RSD prevention.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I know that I know that there'd be

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Speaker 1: a lot of parents listening this morning who are thinking,

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Speaker 1: if I can't afford to get that vaccine, what can

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Speaker 1: I do to try to sort of help to prevent

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Speaker 1: my child or even for seeing is from picking up RSV.

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Speaker 1: I mean, is there a lot that we can do?

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Speaker 2: I mean, there's all the stuff that we were doing

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Speaker 2: during COVID, so the hand washing, you know, staying out

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Speaker 2: of big crowds, or staying away from people who are ill.

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Speaker 2: You know, those kind of measures definitely reduce the spread

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Speaker 2: and reduce the burden of rus ME.

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate you having a chat with us this morning,

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Speaker 1: and you know, the work that you're doing in this

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Speaker 1: area I think is so incredibly important, particularly after your

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Speaker 1: own personal tragedy that you've gone through, to really be

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Speaker 1: out there trying to help other families is such an

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Speaker 1: admirable thing to do.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie. It's something I'm very passionate about and I

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Speaker 2: just think all children should be kept protected from these nasty,

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Speaker 2: invectious diseases.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I totally agree with you. Immunization Foundation of Australia

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Speaker 1: Director Catherine Hughes, thanks so much for your time today.

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Speaker 2: My pleasure. Thanks Katie, Thank you,