Experts call for caution as COVID infections rise again

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Australia is facing it's 8th COVID wave with coronavirus cases once again on the rise. Last week there was a 23.6 percent increase in the number of people testing positive.

Transcript

00:00 We don't have any public health measures in place, so really it's up to individuals to

00:06 protect themselves. For the vast majority of Australians, they're not interested and

00:12 probably don't need to. But for elderly people, it's a bit of a different situation. Only

00:17 half of people over 65 are up to date with their vaccination. So I think the key message

00:24 here is not to get worried about it. It's just another way, even if it's probably bigger

00:29 than the previous one. And the virus itself is certainly no more severe than previous

00:35 viruses. But those who are elderly or those who've got impaired immune systems or at risk,

00:41 now's the time to start wearing a face mask and getting up to date with your vaccination.

00:46 Yeah, I mean, you'll have seen them. There has been some saying, well, should we be considering

00:50 more widespread use of face masks? And that actually, because it was so drastic during

00:58 the pandemic, people have got quite complacent now about it.

01:02 Yeah, look, the other thing is that even if you're not at risk, you're not elderly, you

01:07 know, you don't have health conditions that make you at risk, you might consider wearing

01:11 a face mask and getting up to date with your vaccination, simply because you might have

01:15 elderly parents or family members who are at risk and you want to protect them or protect

01:20 the general community. And of course, one of the other things – sorry

01:23 to interrupt, Professor. One of the other things is the effect of long COVID that even

01:30 if you have a relatively mild case of coronavirus, it doesn't affect you very badly. You're not

01:35 necessarily going to get away with not getting long COVID.

01:38 Yes, that's absolutely true. So, we know that anywhere between 3% and 10% of people who

01:45 get infected, even those without symptoms, end up with long-term health problems, some

01:50 lasting for a year and some lasting for a lot longer. So, another reason why you might

01:55 want to protect yourself is to try and protect yourself against long COVID. And we do know

01:59 that being vaccinated, being up to date with your vaccination does give you protection

02:02 against long COVID. Okay. As you say, the vaccination rates are

02:06 very low at the moment, getting a booster. How has the booster evolved to tackle the

02:10 new strains or hasn't it? Does Australia have the latest in the vaccine store cupboard?

02:17 I'm afraid not. We have the previous one available, which is based on the BA45 Omicron and the

02:25 Wuhan strains. It was called a bivalent one because it had two strains. The most recent

02:30 one, which is a monovalent, it's got a single strain based on a subvariant called XBB.1.5,

02:37 has been approved for use by our TGA, but we're simply now waiting for it to be tested

02:42 and sent out to the different pharmacists and GP practices. It should happen in the

02:45 next few weeks, but we simply don't know exactly when it will be available.

02:50 Right. Okay. And in terms of getting them, are they still available at the same place

02:55 as the vaccines? They will be, yes. Of course, the governments

02:59 have been shutting down our respiratory clinics, but generally speaking, you'll be able to

03:03 get vaccinated by your GP and/or a pharmacy. So, just finally, as this eighth wave hits,

03:13 you seem quite relaxed, calm about it and let's carry on.

03:18 Yes, look, I think we have to now. This virus is going to be with us for a long time. It's

03:23 not flu and we can't treat it like flu, but certainly, we don't have to be afraid of it.

03:28 We simply have to take a bit more extra care when there's a wave happening and that's what's

03:32 happening now.

03:32 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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