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.
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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.
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