{"id":701194,"date":"2026-05-29T01:34:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T01:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/701194\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T01:34:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T01:34:15","slug":"diphtheria-vaccine-push-in-was-north-as-authorities-battle-disease-of-the-past-disinformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/701194\/","title":{"rendered":"Diphtheria vaccine push in WA’s north as authorities battle ‘disease of the past’ disinformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Health authorities in Western Australia’s far north say they are battling disinformation and misconceptions amid a vaccination drive to contain an ongoing diphtheria outbreak.<\/p>\n

State and Commonwealth governments have been prompted to act following a spike in cases across WA<\/a>, the Northern Territory and Queensland, with at least one death linked to the respiratory condition.<\/p>\n

The latest WA Department of Health figures showed 92 cases, with two prisoners from West Kimberley Regional Prison confirmed as having recovered from the infection.<\/p>\n

Health Minister Meredith Hammat said the prison outbreak was now under control, while other historic cases were being managed through contact tracing and the wider vaccine rollout.<\/p>\n

Wunan Health doctor Alice Fitzgerald said diphtheria could be life-threatening if left untreated and was disproportionately affecting Indigenous people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Probably more than 90 per cent of cases are in that population group,” she said.\"A<\/p>\n

Alice Fitzgerald from Wunan Health is urging people to get vaccinated against diphtheria. (ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio)<\/p>\n

Dr Fitzgerald said the majority of Kimberley cases had been in the towns of Derby and Kununurra, as well as nearby remote communities.<\/p>\n

Battling disinformation<\/p>\n

Diphtheria is extremely rare and had not been detected in the Kimberley region for half a century prior to the current outbreak.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The push to increase diphtheria vaccination comes after an outbreak in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)<\/p>\n

Socio-economic pressures and limited access to healthcare in a number of remote communities have accelerated the current outbreak.<\/p>\n

Dr Fitzgerald said the best prevention was for people to be vaccinated.<\/p>\n

“We’re\u00a0seeing cases throughout people who are either unvaccinated or vaccinated a long time ago,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Luckily the diphtheria booster is a common vaccine that’s easily accessible.”<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Health practitioners are Wunan Health in Kununurra are responding to the diphtheria outbreak. (ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio)<\/p>\n

But due to diphtheria’s re-emergence after decades dormant, Dr Fitzgerald said fighting disinformation was a challenge.<\/p>\n

“Because diphtheria is not a disease we’ve seen in the Kimberley for many years, even medical practitioners are taking some time to catch up,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It does really highlight the importance of keeping the community\u00a0really vigilant\u00a0about vaccine-preventable diseases.”<\/p>\n

Kununurra residents told the ABC there was confusion around the bacterial infection’s symptoms and causes.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Health authorities in Western Australia’s north want to increase diphtheria vaccination rates. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)<\/p>\n

Many did not know how it spread or whether they could get vaccinated, and some expressed scepticism towards vaccines and the effectiveness of western medicine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But others were concerned this “disease of the past” had returned to the Kimberley.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Public messaging urging people to get vaccinated against diphtheria has been circulated in the Kimberley. (ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio)<\/p>\n

A pop-up vaccination clinic was open at the leisure centre in Kununurra yesterday afternoon, with dozens of people lining up to get their free diphtheria and flu vaccines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Miriwoong woman Dolly Thompson did not know much about the communicable disease, but, after speaking to a nurse handing out flyers at the local supermarket, she decided to attend the clinic. \u00a0<\/p>\n

She said she got the jab to “keep safe” and was planning to urge family members to do the same.<\/p>\n

\"Aboriginal<\/p>\n

Dolly Thompson says she will encourage her family to get vaccinated against diphtheria. (ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio)<\/p>\n

“I’m going to tell them to come to Coolibah Centre,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kununurra mother Yoska Lindsay she said she took her daughters to the pop-up clinic to get vaccinated because she was concerned about the current outbreak.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I’m here because I think it’s really important to protect my children against the flu and diphtheria with the local outbreak,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"children<\/p>\n

Yoska Lindsay’s children receive their diphtheria vaccinations at the pop-up clinic. (ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio)<\/p>\n

“It’s really important that as many people as possible do their bit for the community. It’s great seeing so many people here today.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘First line of defence’<\/p>\n

The health minister said the state government had been working with the Kimberley, Pilbara and Goldfields communities since the first cases were detected.<\/p>\n

Are you up to date with your vaccines?<\/a><\/p>\n

Some vaccines need to be updated regularly. Here’s what you need to know to ensure you stay protected.<\/p>\n

Ms Hammat said people should get vaccinated to avoid the impacts of diphtheria.<\/p>\n

“Our first line of defence is again to encourage people to get access to vaccinations,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s a vaccine-preventable disease and we continue to monitor that situation closely.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Health authorities in Western Australia’s far north say they are battling disinformation and misconceptions amid a vaccination drive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64,63,298987,341466,341467,137,41792,22561,24514,37626,211145,4886,25962,45],"class_list":["post-701194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-diphtheria","tag-diphtheria-outbreak-wa","tag-diphtheria-vaccine-wa","tag-health","tag-infection","tag-kimberley","tag-kimberley-news","tag-kununurra","tag-vaccinated","tag-vaccine","tag-wa","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}