Experts encourage people to get booster jab as infectious variant emerges

ABC NEWS (Australia)

More now on that new COVID strain Griffith University virologist associate professor Lara Herrero says the strain has mutated and has a stronger attachment to cells.

Transcript

00:00It's really preliminary data, but the sequencing of this strain is showing that there's mutations

00:06in the spike protein. And I guess we all kind of know what the spike protein is now, that

00:11outer surface protein on the virus that it uses to get attachment into our cells and

00:15infect us. The mutations are making it attached to those cells a little bit stronger. And

00:20those mutations, those same mutations, are meaning that it's avoiding our immune system

00:25and our antibodies just a little bit better. So this is the reason why the WHO is gone.

00:30We better keep a close eye on this one. And so how does it compare to previous strains?

00:35So they've compared, the initial studies that are out, they're very preliminary, I must say,

00:41in the early days of this data, they have said that it is a better binder to the cells than

00:47its predecessor, and certainly then to the ones before that. And again, it's avoiding

00:51the immune system just that little bit better. And that's not surprising, really, because

00:55you know, we put pressure on these viruses by having an immune response and antibodies

01:00that we produce, that the virus kind of just gets better at avoiding them.

01:04And are they saying it's any more infectious or potent?

01:09And this is what comes down to when we say it binds better. If it binds better, if it's stronger

01:14to attach to the cells, it might infect more. And again, early days with this data, but enough

01:20that the WHO put out this release.

01:23And what's happening with influenza cases at the moment as well as we head into winter?

01:29Yeah, so influenza is another one that we're really watching, and we should be watching,

01:32and we've always been watching. So those cases are coming up too. We've got COVID on the rise,

01:37we've got influenza on the rise. We're at the early stage of our winter season, our peak season.

01:43So it's going to be a, you know, just watch and wait and see what happens. But the data is

01:47suggesting they're tracking up and we could have a bad season. We might not, because now's

01:52the time to act. Now's the time where we can actually make changes to what our peak looks

01:56like. But the data, like I said, the cases are kind of creeping up.

02:00Yeah. And what's happening with vaccination rates at the moment? And what's your message

02:05to people who want to avoid both COVID and the flu this season?

02:10Yeah, vaccination rates for COVID are particularly low. In the last six months, we've delivered maybe

02:17about 1.3 million vaccines. And that's a very small percentage of our population, if you think

02:23about how big the population is. Also, in that six months, it would be the, primarily, it would be

02:28the booster that we would see is the best defense against this new strain that's coming out. So if we

02:35look at that data, it looks like that of the whole population, it's not many people who have got

02:39immunity to this new strain. And this is where we can fall into a little bit of danger. Overall,

02:45vaccination rates are low. And that's because, you know, people are tired of hearing this message.

02:49And I know they're tired of the message. But I tell you what, people don't want to be sick either.

02:54We don't want to live with regret. So better to get vaccinated if you can, you have that conversation

02:59with your GP, if you're one of the people that, that, you know, the risk to benefit is to get

03:04vaccinated. I got vaccinated.

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