Fears over Covid super spreader events have led to renewed pleas for Aussies to get the latest vaccine booster as a new wave sweeps the country.
As teens travel far and wide for end-of-year festivities like Schoolies, it could lead to thousands being infected with a dreaded bout of the virus just as the Christmas holidays near. So what can we do to prevent it and should we be worried?
Experts are warning that Covid continues to pose a threat to Australians and that precautions should be taken to avoid infection.
A new vaccine will be available in Australia from December 11, with everyone being urged to get it. It will protect against the new EG.5 (Eris) and BA 2.86 (Pirola) variants.
Conversations about mask mandates have been reignited following WAs decision to make masks compulsory in high-risk settings such as hospitals.
Should I be worried?
Virologists were adamant that Covid would evolve into "nothing more than the common cold" but today that is simply not the case and continues to carry a threat, experts warn.
Professor Catherine Bennett, an epidemiologist at Deakin University told Yahoo that while our population-level immunity is helping us get through this wave in a safer way than we have [before]," we still have to remember that "people can become very unwell and we're still losing lives".
Dr Raina MacIntyre echoed this, saying there's an "enormous" amount of evidence around chronic long-term conditions caused by the virus.
"This is not just a virus that causes respiratory illness, it does that, but it also affects blood vessels, the heart, lungs and brain and a range of other organ systems," she told ABC Radio Melbourne.
"There are also good studies that show if you are reinfected, your risk of long Covid increases. And we know long Covid is already impacting workforces in the US and the UK," she added.
Read more: Is Covid still a thing?
One of the most controversial issues at the height of the pandemic was mask-wearing. So will there be renewed efforts to encourage people to wear masks on the cusp of another outbreak this holiday season? WA has already brought back mandates for face masks in hospitals.
Story continues
However, it's unlikely to affect the masses. Monash epidemiologist James Trauer said, "I don't think we need a mask mandate across the whole of society". Lockdowns are also unlikely Dr Paul Griffin, the director of infectious diseases at Mater Health in Brisbane, said. "But people should still remain careful," adds Trauer.
The advice is particularly true for those attending high-risk social events including Schoolies, or Leavers, with new fears such occasions may become superspreader events. While taking precautions is necessary, Trauer says, "I don't think we should have any restrictions that are applied across the whole of society" such as banning these events. "And I don't think there's any need to limit gathering numbers" he added.
"But we do need to take precautions when visiting friends and relatives who are vulnerable. Dont put them at risk," he added. This includes the elderly or people with other medical conditions.
A "significant change in the virus" is what's caused the current wave. "Each time the virus changes, the protection that we have from past infection and vaccination declines and that allows the virus to transmit more readily," Griffin told Yahoo.
Bennett agreed and said a new wave was "expected". Mostly because protection from immunity or vaccination "wanes over time". As for vaccinations, only a "very small percentage" of the population is up to date and most people haven't had a shot in the past six months, according to Professor Adrian Esterman, an expert in epidemiology at the University of South Australia.
That's a question a lot of people are asking at the moment, and in short, if people are eligible for a vaccine, I would just encourage them to go and get vaccinated," Trauer said.
The new vaccine, which will be available in Australia from December 11, differs from the ones weve had previously. Its monovalent and designed specifically to target the current EG.5 (Eris) and BA 2.86 (Pirola) variants. The most recent boosters were bivalent and tailored to protect against both the original strain of COVID-19 and the Omicron variant.
Those who had their 2023 vaccinations do not need to get jabbed again, but for people who are particularly vulnerable, if they haven't had their booster, "now is the time to think about it because it will give you your best protection through this second wave for the year," Bennett said.
"Vaccination remains our most important defence against Covid," Trauer added.
Other precautions that Esterman says are effective and encouraged include:
WA Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson on Schoolies or Leavers, "We know large events are higher risk when it comes to contracting and spreading the virus. Anyone returning from Leavers who feels unwell should please stay away from their grandparents and other vulnerable people in our community until their symptoms resolve".
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) said in a recent statement, "Available data suggests monovalent XBB vaccines provide modestly enhanced protection from severe disease compared to older vaccines".
For more about... Coronavirus
Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? Get our new weekly newsletter showcasing the weeks best stories.
Read the original here:
- Booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech/BNT162b2 COVID19 vaccine | IDR - Dove Medical Press [Last Updated On: August 9th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 9th, 2022]
- Monkeypox vaccines have arrived in Victoria. Here's how the rollout will work - ABC News [Last Updated On: August 9th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 9th, 2022]
- UHD, H-E-B Offering Students Bacterial Meningitis Vaccine On Campus With Deferred Payment Option - UHD News [Last Updated On: August 9th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 9th, 2022]
- Vaccine effectiveness of two-dose BNT162b2 against symptomatic and severe COVID-19 among adolescents in Brazil and Scotland over time: a test-negative... [Last Updated On: August 9th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 9th, 2022]
- Japan plans booster shots of Omicron vaccine in October | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis - [Last Updated On: August 9th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 9th, 2022]
- EyeGene to conduct vaccine projects with government support - KBR [Last Updated On: August 9th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 9th, 2022]
- Monkeypox Vaccine: Where to Get It - countynewscenter.com [Last Updated On: August 9th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 9th, 2022]
- Vaccines for Covid-19 arent required in schools this fall - Vox.com [Last Updated On: August 9th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 9th, 2022]
- 600 in Wisconsin receive monkeypox vaccination, says health department - Green Bay Press Gazette [Last Updated On: August 11th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 11th, 2022]
- Effectiveness of third vaccine dose for coronavirus disease 2019 during the Omicron variant pandemic: a prospective observational study in Japan |... [Last Updated On: August 11th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 11th, 2022]
- Why Monkeypox Vaccine Shortage May Threaten the Immunocompromised - The New York Times [Last Updated On: August 11th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 11th, 2022]
- UK will run out of monkeypox vaccine in 10 to 20 days - The Guardian [Last Updated On: August 11th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 11th, 2022]
- New method of nasal vaccine delivery could lead to better vaccines for HIV and COVID-19 - UMN News [Last Updated On: August 11th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 11th, 2022]
- Phillys monkeypox vaccine shortages arent solved yet as feds make move to increase access to the shots - The Philadelphia Inquirer [Last Updated On: August 11th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 11th, 2022]
- Vaccines are now approved for children aged six months to five years, but what about newborn babies? - ABC News [Last Updated On: August 11th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 11th, 2022]
- Bottling the monkeypox vaccine could take until early 2023 - POLITICO [Last Updated On: August 11th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 11th, 2022]
- The Brazilian Scientists Inventing An mRNA Vaccine And Sharing The Recipe : Short Wave - NPR [Last Updated On: August 11th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 11th, 2022]
- 2,000 Monkeypox Vaccine Appointments Are Available in Chicago This Weekend. Here's How to Get One - NBC Chicago [Last Updated On: August 11th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 11th, 2022]
- 'Vaccine fatigue' could hit autumn Covid boosters | News | The Sunday Times - The Times [Last Updated On: August 28th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 28th, 2022]
- Q&A: The new COVID vaccine booster is coming. Should you get it? - The Lawton Constitution [Last Updated On: August 28th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 28th, 2022]
- Former CRH surgeon who survived polio disheartened by vaccination lapses - The Republic [Last Updated On: August 28th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 28th, 2022]
- 'Only the beginning': Hundreds protest Western University vaccine mandate - CBC.ca [Last Updated On: August 28th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 28th, 2022]
- Vaccine hesitancy and trust in health experts: Shifting the focus - Medical News Today [Last Updated On: August 28th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 28th, 2022]
- I Was There When: AI helped create a vaccine - MIT Technology Review [Last Updated On: August 28th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 28th, 2022]
- The USDA is sprinkling fish-flavored vaccines from the sky to fight rabies - CNN [Last Updated On: August 28th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 28th, 2022]
- COVID-19 Vaccines | FDA [Last Updated On: August 28th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 28th, 2022]
- Novavax COVID-19 vaccine available for ages 12 and up; CDC Community Level back at Low - Communications and Outreach - New Hanover County [Last Updated On: August 28th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 28th, 2022]
- Vaccine Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster [Last Updated On: August 28th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 28th, 2022]
- National health agency apologises over Covid vaccine ads it was ordered to remove - RNZ [Last Updated On: September 3rd, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 3rd, 2022]
- Editorial: How Jewish space lasers and vaccine nanobots seized the brains of GOP voters - St. Louis Post-Dispatch [Last Updated On: September 3rd, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 3rd, 2022]
- Novel HER2-hICD Vaccine to be Investigated for Treatment of HER2-Low Breast Cancer - Targeted Oncology [Last Updated On: September 3rd, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 3rd, 2022]
- Brazilian Covid vaccine to be tested in humans in 2023 - The Brazilian Report [Last Updated On: September 3rd, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 3rd, 2022]
- A Review on the Use of the HPV Vaccine in the Prevention of Cervical Cancer - Cureus [Last Updated On: September 3rd, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 3rd, 2022]
- City Offering Second Doses of Monkeypox Vaccine to New Yorkers and Begin Accepting Walk-In Appointments - nyc.gov [Last Updated On: September 3rd, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 3rd, 2022]
- Monkeypox vax has disproportionately gone to white Philadelphians. This clinic sought to balance that. - The Philadelphia Inquirer [Last Updated On: September 3rd, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 3rd, 2022]
- Hopeful New Entry In The Race For A Universal Covid Vaccine - Forbes [Last Updated On: September 3rd, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 3rd, 2022]
- Study raises concerns about the effectiveness of the monkeypox vaccine - STAT [Last Updated On: September 3rd, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 3rd, 2022]
- newsroom.heart.org [Last Updated On: September 3rd, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 3rd, 2022]
- Did the affordable, no-patent COVID vaccine Corbevax live up to its promise? : Goats and Soda - NPR [Last Updated On: September 3rd, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 3rd, 2022]
- In CDC Survey of Over 13,000 Children, More Than Half Had 'Systemic Reaction' After COVID-19 Vaccine - The Epoch Times [Last Updated On: September 6th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 6th, 2022]
- Department of Health working with community to administer monkeypox vaccines - Honolulu Star-Advertiser [Last Updated On: September 6th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 6th, 2022]
- Fact check: Post-vaccine hospitalization odds not 3 times higher as ex-Japan PM claimed - The Mainichi - The Mainichi [Last Updated On: September 6th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 6th, 2022]
- Impact of vaccinia virus-based vaccines on the 2022 monkeypox virus outbreak - News-Medical.Net [Last Updated On: September 6th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 6th, 2022]
- Microsoft and Unicef drive Covid-19 vaccine roll-out with COVAX platform - Technology Record [Last Updated On: September 6th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 6th, 2022]
- School Mask, Vaccine Mandates Are Mostly Gone. But What if the Virus Comes Back? - The 74 [Last Updated On: September 6th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 6th, 2022]
- Immunogenicity and safety of an inactivated whole-virus COVID-19 vaccine (VLA2001) compared with the adenoviral vector vaccine ChAdOx1-S in adults in... [Last Updated On: September 6th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 6th, 2022]
- Getting a Grip on Influenza: The Pursuit of a Universal Vaccine (Part 4) - Forbes [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2022]
- Why So Few Young Kids Are Vaccinated against COVIDAnd How to Change That - Scientific American [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2022]
- UK Travel Vaccine Market Report 2022: Increasing Travel and Tourism & Growing Incidences of Infectious Diseases Fuel Sector -... [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2022]
- At long last, we might have an HIV vaccine - Big Think [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2022]
- The associations between vaccination status, type, and time since vaccination with lineage identity during the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants -... [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2022]
- Needle-less COVID-19 vaccine developed at Washington University approved for use in India - KSDK.com [Last Updated On: September 10th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 10th, 2022]
- Study: COVID-19 Vaccine Prevented Approximately 27 Million Infections in US Adults - Pharmacy Times [Last Updated On: September 10th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 10th, 2022]
- Health System Warns Exemptions to COVID Vaccines May Expire With New Options - Medpage Today [Last Updated On: September 10th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 10th, 2022]
- Does Moderna's vaccine IP lawsuit herald the end of the pandemic? - Medical Marketing and Media [Last Updated On: September 10th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 10th, 2022]
- The Unintended Consequences of COVID-19 Vaccine Policy The Wire Science - The Wire Science [Last Updated On: September 10th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 10th, 2022]
- Astrocytes, the Covid vaccine and the 2021 classification - Brain Tumour Research [Last Updated On: September 18th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 18th, 2022]
- Nearly 50 Members of Congress Call on Pentagon to End Military Vaccine Mandate - The Epoch Times [Last Updated On: September 18th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 18th, 2022]
- New Omicron-fighting Covid vaccine supplied with flimsy needles across Scotland to get replacement syringes - STV News [Last Updated On: September 18th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 18th, 2022]
- Is There A Minimum Age for the Shingles Vaccine? - Healthline [Last Updated On: September 18th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 18th, 2022]
- Detection of circulating vaccine derived polio virus 2 (cVDPV2) in environmental samples the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and... [Last Updated On: September 18th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 18th, 2022]
- 850 more unvaxxed NYC teachers, aides fired for not complying with mandate - New York Post [Last Updated On: September 18th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 18th, 2022]
- 'India's vaccine growth story' book review: Far from being a dry collection of facts and figures - The New Indian Express [Last Updated On: September 18th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 18th, 2022]
- Health care workers appeal dismissal of lawsuit over Maine's vaccine mandate - Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel [Last Updated On: September 18th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 18th, 2022]
- Department of Health Expands Eligibility for the Monkeypox Vaccine - Anne Arundel County Department of Health [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2022]
- Could This Be Pfizer's Next Billion-Dollar Vaccine? - The Motley Fool [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2022]
- Many Vaccinated Youth Who Suffered Heart Inflammation Had Abnormal MRI Results Months Later: CDC Study - The Epoch Times [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2022]
- Second vaccine doses to be offered to those at highest risk from monkeypox - GOV.UK [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2022]
- Structure of the malaria vaccine candidate Pfs48/45 and its recognition by transmission blocking antibodies - Nature.com [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2022]
- Coronavirus Roundup: A CDC Team Is Honored for Its Vaccine Distribution Work - GovExec.com [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2022]
- Everything to know about the Monkeypox vaccine | Health - Red and Black [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2022]
- The U.S. ordered 171 million updated COVID booster shots but only 4.4 million went into arms as Biden says the pandemic is over - Fortune [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2022]
- Why mosquitoes were the vaccinators in a new malaria vaccine trial : Goats and Soda - NPR [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2022]
- Lyme disease is on the rise. Why is there still no vaccine? - AAMC [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2022] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2022]
- Government of Canada announces funding for advancements in mRNA vaccine technology at the University of British Columbia - Canada NewsWire [Last Updated On: October 3rd, 2022] [Originally Added On: October 3rd, 2022]
- 130 people have received incorrect doses of COVID-19 vaccines: MOH - CNA [Last Updated On: October 3rd, 2022] [Originally Added On: October 3rd, 2022]
- Health unit hosts pop-up vaccine clinics throughout the week - BradfordToday [Last Updated On: October 3rd, 2022] [Originally Added On: October 3rd, 2022]
- Doctor who gave anti-vaccine speech in front of effigies of officials being hanged faces discipline hearing - CBC.ca [Last Updated On: October 3rd, 2022] [Originally Added On: October 3rd, 2022]
- What's really happening with global vaccine access? - Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance [Last Updated On: October 3rd, 2022] [Originally Added On: October 3rd, 2022]
- Study confirms link between COVID-19 vaccination and temporary increase in menstrual cycle length - National Institutes of Health (.gov) [Last Updated On: October 3rd, 2022] [Originally Added On: October 3rd, 2022]