Fourteen-year-old Anhaar Kareem is a member of the WH&Y Commission. She’s also a resident of one of Sydney’s COVID-19 hotspots. Earlier this year, Anhaar and a number of her fellow Commissioners co-authored an article on vaccine consent. The experience got her thinking:

“For me, with most of my family vaccinated, the biggest question was ‘Why can’t I get vaccinated?’. Furthermore, I was scared at the prospect of ‘opening up’. Without the vaccine how could my younger sisters and I be safe?,” she says. 

“I know many young people are feeling isolated during lockdown, but they’re also feeling confused and angry at the lack of answers and transparency. With all of these questions and frustrations, I decided to write about the concerns of youth in these uncertain times.”

Anhaar’s insightful and powerful exploration of young people’s needs, fears and questions during the extended lockdown was published as an opinion piece in the Guardian. You can read it here.

She was also invited to be part of this special edition of Q+A on the ABC, focussing on the impacts of the COVID pandemic on Australian children and teenagers.