The battle against COVID has not been ‘won’
Australia will be unable to gain the upper hand against COVID-19 and a new wave of infections could be expected unless new strategies are adopted, the head of a major healthcare organization said.
“What the numbers show is that we’re not winning,” Professor Brendan Crabb, director of the Barnett Institute, told Sevens. sunrise.
“The most recent wave we had… was the third wave of the year and the worst wave of the year. More hospitalizations and more deaths.”
Australia reported another 15,301 cases and 97 deaths on Saturday.
Infection rates also point to an increase in long-term COVID incidence, with people suffering from multiple infections being more likely to experience long-lasting symptoms.
At current infection rates, the country is expected to record its 10 millionth case within a week.
Professor Crabbe said there was an “attitude problem”.
“We don’t fully understand the fact that having so many viruses in our community is bad,” he said.
“We must change to reduce transmission and become intolerant of the amount of virus in our communities.”
US researchers are analyzing people who have been repeatedly infected with the virus and have found that the risk of acute and chronic illness accumulates with each new infection.
Professor Crabbe said the study was worrying and surprising and shows that infection rates need to be reduced.
“There is no immune barrier built by infection against its effects,” he said.
The elusive “herd immunity”
“Herd immunity” is real, but Professor Crabb said the way to reach it is through vaccination, not infection.
The latest vaccination data from Thursday showed that 14,175,324 people in Australia had received three doses of the coronavirus vaccine and 4,543,228 had received four doses.
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization last month updated its recommendation that people aged 30 to 49 should be eligible for a fourth dose and those aged 50 to 64 should receive one dose. did.
Older Australians have already been vaccinated for the fourth time and are at higher risk of worse outcomes if infected.
The dosing interval or previous infection interval was also reduced from 4 months to 3 months.
Healthy adults under the age of 30 are ineligible for a fourth dose after choosing not to support ATAGI making it available because it is unclear whether the benefits outweigh the risks.
Latest COVID-19 data
- Victoria: 2437 cases, 18 deaths, 438 hospitalizations, 29 ICUs
- NSW: 4335 cases, 16 died, hospitalized in 1925, 52 admitted to ICU.
The battle against COVID has not been ‘won’
Source link The battle against COVID has not been ‘won’
