PATRICIA KARVELAS:
COVID cases in Australia are on the rise again, with the rate of booster uptake stalling as we head towards winter and a new subvariant takes hold. As adults prove slow to get their latest jabs, vaccine advisory group ATAGI is considering extending the booster roll out to those aged between 12 and 15. It comes as rules around isolation are set to be eased. Professor Paul Kelly is Australia's Chief Medical Officer and I think, these days, very much a household name, Paul Kelly, welcome back to Breakfast.
PAUL KELLY:
Thanks, Patricia. And having two Paul Kelly's on consecutive days is an impressive effort. Well done.
PATRICIA KARVELAS:
I'm not going to give a favourite Paul Kelly. It would be the wrong thing to do.
PAUL KELLY:
Thank you.
PATRICIA KARVELAS:
COVID numbers are up again. There are warnings in states that have passed their first Omicron peak that another explosion is on the cards. What will the next wave mean for our health system? Are we ready?
PAUL KELLY:
Absolutely, we're ready, Patricia. And we had a very good meeting of National Cabinet last week, which I attended and was able to give advice, which was accepted and adopted by all the premiers, chief ministers, and indeed, the Prime Minister, on our winter plan. And that's all about being ready for winter, not only for any rising COVID cases, but also a likely flu season. So, they're the two things that we're absolutely focussed on right now.
PATRICIA KARVELAS:
National Cabinet is looking to ease restrictions. It agreed, last week, to scrap isolation rules for close contacts. You sit on the committee that's reviewing the plan. Have you given the Government advice yet on how that can happen?
PAUL KELLY:
So, the AHPPC is the committee you're talking about, the committee of all the chief health officers, myself and some other experts. We are talking about that today at our meeting. We're having another full day meeting next week to go through that in great detail and we'll be providing our sage advice, as always, through that process in the coming weeks.
PATRICIA KARVELAS:
Okay, so can you just give me a sense? Will Australians who live in a house where someone has COVID be able to skip isolation anytime soon?
PAUL KELLY:
Well, that was the preference that was put to- that was the position that was put to National Cabinet last week, and that was their preference. And so- But very importantly, and I think appropriately, they said: let's let the experts work through the details of that. And that's what we'll be doing over the coming weeks.
PATRICIA KARVELAS:
And what's your sense about whether we're ready to do that?
PAUL KELLY:
Well, I think the other important part of the winter plan that was adopted last week, Patricia, is that we are now moving to a living with COVID stats. And part of that is, actually, really concentrating more on preventing severe disease in the most vulnerable, rather than trying to stop transmission as our primary objective.
So, from that flows a number of things. One, is that it's the importance of those tools which we have in our toolkit to protect our most vulnerable people. So, vaccination, you've mentioned; booster doses absolutely important there; particularly in older people. And so, very pleasingly, over 85 per cent of eligible over 65s have already had their third dose. And as you mentioned in your first statements, the ATAGI group, the experts on immunisation, are actively looking at what a fourth dose might look like. And there'll be announcements about that soon.
We need to protect people from the flu the same- basically, the same people that are at the highest risk of severe COVID are also the ones that are at risk of severe influenza. Except there are a couple of other important groups there - children under the age of five, who can't get a COVID vaccine at the moment, they are at higher risk of flu and they haven't been exposed, probably many of them in their entire life, because we haven't had flu the last couple of years; [pregnant women; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders of any age. So, there will be more to say about flu vaccine in the coming weeks, but that's rolling out now as well.
So, they're the important things we are concentrating on now, rather than the other, sort of, more blunt public health and social measures that we've become used to over the last couple of years. Some of those remain important, and they may become important again if we do have a very large rise. But at the moment, I think we're moving away, mostly, from those mandated rules. And that was the decision from National Cabinet last week.
PATRICIA KARVELAS:
Just 66 per cent of Australians over 16 have had more than two doses of the vaccine. Why isn't that rate higher? What's gone wrong here?
PAUL KELLY:
I think there's a number of things. There is, certainly, some signs that people are getting a bit sick about talking about vaccine, and I can understand that. We've talked about it every day for- since the beginning of last year, and probably earlier than that. So, that's part of it.
I think the other thing is that we've had, you know, quite a lot of people have had COVID this year. I think there's some uncertainty there about- or even some, perhaps, complacency about, oh look, I've had Omicron, it wasn't that bad, and now I'm protected because I had it. Now, they're partially true statements, but having a booster is still really important. And I would very much encourage anyone who's had - even to those people that have had a dose of COVID this year, to make that decision to get that third dose. It does give extra protection; it gives you extra protection against severe disease as an acute problem. But also, there's increasing evidence that it protects against long COVID. And I think that's a really important message.
Secondly, with children, we've had- we have one of the highest rates of vaccination of 5 to 11-year-olds in the world. Many countries have stalled at about 20 or 30 per cent. We're above 50, but we need to go higher. And kids are now starting to come through for their second dose. And we're noticing there is a gap and a slowness in that second dosage. So again, for parents that are listening to the program, please if you are due for your booster, go and get that; and at the same time, consider getting that second dose, or if you have not had the first dose for your children, aged 5 to 11, this is the time to think about it before winter.
PATRICIA KARVELAS:
My 10-year-old just had her second dose. So, you know, I've ticked that box. I hope other parents do too.
PAUL KELLY:
Well done.
PATRICIA KARVELAS:
Look, vaccine advice body, ATAGI, was reportedly looking at extending booster shots for 12 to 15-year-olds this week. What came out of that meeting? When will that happen?
PAUL KELLY:
So, I haven't had specific advice on that matter yet, but yes, they're looking at that. They're also looking at the potential need for a fourth dose booster, and that's something that will be, I think, finalised very soon about advice about that for the broader population, or for- or specific people that might be at higher risk.
PATRICIA KARVELAS:
Paul Kelly, Thank you for your time.
PAUL KELLY:
You're welcome.
PATRICIA KARVELAS:
Australia's Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paul Kelly.
Contact
