Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Sonya Bennett's interview on Studio 10 on 30 November 2021

Read the transcript of Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Sonya Bennett's interview on Studio 10 on 30 November 2021 about coronavirus (COVID-19).

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TRISTAN MACMANUS:       

And now, as the new COVID variant, Omicron, gallops around the globe, there are still more questions than answers surrounding its transmissibility, its severity, and whether it's resistant to our current batch of vaccine.

SARAH HARRIS:                   

Joining us from Canberra to provide some answers to some of these questions is Australia's Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Sonya Bennett. Doctor, thank you so much for being with us this morning. The World Health Organization is warning that Omicron poses a very high risk of infection and severe consequences. So, can you break this down for us, because that sounds pretty troubling.

SONYA BENNETT:               

Yeah, good morning, Sarah. I can understand those words do cause alarm. I mean, the good news is that this has been picked up very quickly. I mean, South Africa was very quick to let the world know about the discovery of this new variant, and the World Health Organization very quick to label it a variant of concern. And the reason it's a variant of concern is that it does appear to be highly infectious and transmissible, which does mean it could spread wildly and replace- even replace Delta as a dominant variant. I mean, what we don't know really is how severe the illness is that this new variant, Omicron will cause, and then more importantly, how effective vaccines are against that Illness. But early indications are that it appears to be a mild illness, particularly in vaccinated people. And we should be able to expect that vaccines will still protect us against severe illness particularly - not necessarily infection all the time. But we know that's the case with Delta. So I think that World Health Organization is really concerned because of its transmissibility, and they're concerned, obviously, for all countries around the world, including those who perhaps haven't got his high vaccination coverage yet, or haven't got their public health systems to be able to cope with large numbers of cases. But here in Australia, we're certainly in a good position to be able to manage any case of COVID, including the new variant.

TRISTAN MACMANUS:       

So Doctor, how long could it take scientists to get answers on the virus and know whether it is actually resistant to the current vaccines?

SONYA BENNETT:               

Well, it's going to take quite a bit of time to be certain about the characteristics of this particular variant, as it took with Delta and the variance before it, and in fact the original virus. But over the next two weeks, we should be able to start to understand how severe the illness is, how quick this virus will spread around the globe. And to a certain extent, how effective vaccines are against protecting against illness, and that's really done through surveillance, so all the countries having their testing systems in place and picking up cases, with each of those cases, looking at whether they're vaccinated or not, how severe their illness is, reporting that into the WHO as many countries will do. And there's also lab studies going on around the world as well, just looking at how effective the vaccines are against- so the antibodies produced by the vaccines, whether or not they neutralise the virus. So all those pieces of information will really go a long way to helping us understand the virus more and inform decisions. But we won't know for sure. Two weeks will give us early indications. It'll take a little bit longer than that to be absolutely certain of the impact of this virus.

SARAH HARRIS:                   

Lots of people already asking if they should have their booster shots sooner rather than later, or than previously advised. Are you saying to people then, just pump your brakes for a moment, let's just wait till we see what the data does?

SONYA BENNETT:               

Well, I think it's important for people to have their booster shots as soon as they can, and at the moment, that is at the six months' post-completion of their first course of vaccination. I think that remains important for the Delta variant as well as the new variant. The Minister for Health has asked ATAGI to look at whether booster shots, the timing of that, should be brought forward early. And so ATAGI will look at all the information I've just described, as well as talk to their counterparts in other countries around what they're doing. I guess what they'll be looking for, the benefit of that would be to have a- strengthen the immune response in people, if that's what's needed for this variant. And that's right, Sarah. It's too early to tell, so I don't think people should be concerned about getting a booster right now. There's plenty of time for ATAGI to have a look at that information available and recommend that decision to Government.

TRISTAN MACMANUS:       

Great to hear. Dr Sonya Bennet, thanks so much for joining us today. Thanks for your time, we really appreciate it.

SONYA BENNETT:               

Thank you.

TRISTAN MACMANUS:       

All the best.

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