Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Michael Kidd's COVID-19 press conference on 24 July 2021

Read the transcript of Acting Chief Medical Officer Professor Michael Kidd's press conference on 24 July 2021 about coronavirus (COVID-19).

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MICHAEL KIDD:                   

Hello. My name is Michael Kidd, acting Chief Medical Officer.

This continues to be a worrying and stressing time for many people across Australia, and especially in the greater Sydney area. In the past 24 hours, there have been 178 reported new cases of COVID-19 in Australia. With only two of these overseas acquired among people in quarantine. 176 of the new cases have been locally acquired, and this includes 163 newly reported cases in New South Wales, 12 newly reported cases in the Victoria, and one newly reported case in South Australia. There have now sadly been six deaths associated with the recent COVID-19 outbreak. My thoughts are with the family members and the other loved ones of those who have died.

Australia currently has 174 people with COVID-19 in hospital, 41 people are in intensive care units, and that includes 20 people on ventilators. The growing number of people with serious disease in intensive care reinforces the seriousness of this current outbreak. Yesterday, 174,000 COVID-19 tests were carried out in Australia, including 93,000 tests in New South Wales alone, and thank you to everyone who has tested yesterday. Globally, in the past 24 hours, there have been over 698,000 new cases of COVID-19 reported, and 8673 reported deaths from COVID-19. This pandemic continues to cause serious disease and deaths in many countries around the world.

Today, we have passed 11 million doses of COVID-19 vaccinations being delivered in Australia. We had one million doses administered in the past seven days, and I thank everyone who has lined up to be vaccinated, but also the wonderful nurses and doctors and support people who are delivering vaccinations to the people of our country. And everyone involved in our nationwide vaccination effort. Despite the high numbers of people being vaccinated in the past week, we still need people coming out in mass numbers over the weekend. If you're eligible, I urge you to get vaccinated today or tomorrow.

The outbreak in New South Wales continues to grow. And the risk of disease, particularly in the most seriously affected regions in the greater Sydney area, is likely to continue to be significant over coming days. The original advice from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, ATAGI, was that in a large outbreak, the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine are greater than the risk of rare side effects for all age groups. That advice has not changed. I urge everyone in Australia aged over 60 years of age to get vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine now. Do not wait. We have plenty of AstraZeneca vaccine available through general practices and other vaccination sites. The AstraZeneca vaccine prevents serious illness and saves lives. The risk of serious disease and death from COVID-19 infection is significant for those aged over 60. We now have 75 per cent of people in Australia aged over 70 who received a COVID-19 vaccination, but we need to protect everyone. Please encourage the older people in your life to get vaccinated now, if they have not already done so.

In addition, the advice from ATAGI is all individuals aged 18 years and above in greater Sydney including adults under 60 years of age should strongly consider getting vaccinated with any available vaccine, including AstraZeneca. This is on the basis of the increasing risk of COVID-19, and ongoing constraints of supply of the Pfizer vaccine. In addition, people in areas where outbreaks are occurring can receive the second dose of AstraZeneca vaccine four to eight weeks after the first dose, rather than the usual 12 weeks, to bring forward their optimal protection. Maximal protection requires two doses of either vaccine, but even a single dose of either vaccine provides substantial protection by more than 70 per cent against hospitalisation. If you have received a single dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and you get infected with COVID-19, the vaccine partially reduces the risk of transmission to other people by about half, and therefore will also benefit your close contacts and the wider community. It should also be noted, though, that there is a delay of two to three weeks after receiving a first dose of vaccine and being protected from COVID-19.

A second reason for ATAGI to recommend that individuals strongly consider vaccination at this time is emerging data about severity of disease. It is becoming apparent that the Delta variant may be more severe than the original strain of the virus. The proportion of infected people less than 60 years of age requiring hospitalisation now appears to be higher than what was reported in outbreaks with the original strain. So this also reinforces the benefit of protection with either vaccine. People considering vaccinations should be informed of the benefits and risks and they should provide their informed consent. People who receive the AstraZeneca vaccine should be aware of the symptoms of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, and when they should seek medical attention. Early detection of this syndrome means that people can get treatment and this can improve their outcomes. So a reminder that anyone with an unusual or persistent headache or abdominal pain four or more days following the AstraZeneca vaccine should seek urgent medical assessment.

ATAGI has also reinforced that the interval between the first and second doses of Pfizer is three to six weeks. Providing some flexibility in managing the available supplies of vaccine, while also noting that two doses are required for optimal protection. Spacing Pfizer to an interval of six weeks would allow limited vaccine supplies to be redirected to obtain first dose protection in outbreak areas of greatest need. Operation COVID Shield has been working with the states and territories to provide them with their future allocations of vaccines until the end of this year.

The Commonwealth has also provided an additional emergency allocation of 300,000 vaccine doses, 150,000 AstraZeneca, 150,000 Pfizer, to New South Wales, last week. The Commonwealth will increase the emergency allocation to New South Wales of additional doses of Pfizer from 150,000 to 200,000 doses this week. As the supply of vaccines increases, the Commonwealth stands ready to continue to work with the states and territories to support the rollout of vaccines. The Commonwealth will constantly assess requests against any reserves held by the Commonwealth. In New South Wales, the Commonwealth will be providing a sustained weekly increase of an additional 20,000 doses to General Practices and an additional 20,000 doses to New South Wales government clinics on an ongoing basis. This increase is consistent with increases for all states and territories on a per capita basis. A remind that are we now have over 1250 general practices across Australia administering the Pfizer vaccine, and it's anticipated this number of practices involved in administering Pfizer had increase to 1550 by the end of this coming week. I'm happy to take any questions.

Can I go to Tom on the phone?

QUESTION:                          

Thanks, Professor for taking my question. Just on those additional 50,000 Pfizer doses that are being sent to New South Wales, what difference will these doses particularly make to containing this outbreak? How significant is 50,000 doses in the context of this outbreak, and more broadly, how much difference can vaccines make in the short term to containing the outbreak in Sydney? Are fast paced vaccinations the answer, are other measures like lockdowns [Indistinct] the way out?

MICHAEL KIDD:                   

Yes, thank you, Tom. So, firstly, obviously every additional vaccine is an additional person who is provided with extra protection and an additional person where, if they do get exposed to COVID-19, their risk of becoming seriously unwell is reduced, their risk of transmitting to other people is reduced as well. So every dose of the vaccine counts. That's why it's so important that so many people are queuing up and getting their vaccines over recent weeks and thank you to everyone who is doing that. But you are quite right, vaccination is one component of our response to COVID-19. It's absolutely essential that people are following the requirements, the restrictions, in the state or territory where they're based, and of course this is most important in the affected areas in New South Wales, in the greater Sydney area. And so people should be staying in their homes, except for that limited number of reasons that people are allowed outside of their homes, on any day. Obviously, the more we reduce the opportunity for people to interact with other people, the more we reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19, the quicker we bring the outbreak under control, the fewer people who are exposed and put at risk of serious disease.

Thanks, Tom. Stella.

QUESTION:                          

Thank you, Professor. Just on the protest in Sydney, that anti-lockdown protest in Sydney today, are you concerned that this will become a super spreader event? And also, I mean, we have other protests across Australia today. What is your response to this? I mean, just in general, how dangerous is this?

MICHAEL KIDD:

Well, people need to be following the restrictions which have been put in place by the government of the state or territory where they've based. I'm very concerned if people are not following those restrictions. I'm very concerned if people are not wearing masks when they should be. I'm very concerned if people are not maintaining appropriate physical distancing from other people. When that happens, there is the risk that we will get spread of COVID-19. This is even more imperative during this outbreak with the Delta variant than it was during the times last year when we saw similar protests. This puts people's lives at risk. Please adhere to the restrictions in the state or territory where you're based.

Thanks, Stella.

QUESTION:                          

Quick question if I can, professor. Speaking about the delaying of the Pfizer, the second Pfizer dose, what impact does that have on your protection?

MICHAEL KIDD:                   

Yes, so, obviously you get protection after the first dose, as I highlighted. Then you get the optimal protection after you received the second dose of either of these vaccines. This is why we have looked at shortening the dose for the AstraZeneca vaccines in the outbreak areas in it New South Wales. But for the Pfizer vaccine, ATAGI's advice has always been between three to six weeks. Now, obviously whether someone gets the vaccine in three weeks or six weeks depends on appointments which have already made. We don't want to be disrupting the current vaccine rollout in many centres right across Australia, but particularly in New South Wales. We don't want to cause confusion amongst people who are due to get their second doses. So- but that advice is there and it's there for the people administering vaccines in individual sites.

QUESTION:                          

Does it change the level of protection, though, delaying that second dose, or not?

MICHAEL KIDD:                   

Well, it's a balance. It's a balance between having more people receiving a first dose and therefore receiving that level of protection that I outlined, against getting the full 100 per cent protection that comes from getting the second dose of the vaccine. What we're seeing overseas in other countries where there has been some delaying of second doses, is you get more people protected, and therefore a benefit in reducing possible transmission.

QUESTION:                          

We understand the vaccine, especially Pfizer and AstraZeneca, are distributed on a per capita basis. According to the government documents, Victoria's currently received 1.8 million, New South Wales 1.4. Is there a reason for that?

MICHAEL KIDD:                   

Yeah, so that's a question we'd probably have to put to Lieutenant-General John Frewen involved in the logistics of vaccine allocation.

QUESTION:                          

And just quickly, do you understand when there will be enough doses on shore of Pfizer for the rest of the eligible population?

MICHAEL KIDD:                   

Yes, so as you know, we're getting increased doses of Pfizer during this current quarter, the third quarter of this year. And there'll be even more doses coming in the fourth quarter of this year. And as we've been told, we can expect that all people who wish to receive vaccination against COVID-19 will be able to have done to do by the end of this year.

QUESTION:                          

Just lastly, last one. Is- in your opinion, is there a public health need for a ring of steel around Sydney to protect other states? Do you believe if it would have any effect in the current epidemiology setting?

MICHAEL KIDD:                   

Well, certainly New South Wales has acted to limit the movement of people right across the areas under lockdown. And so that is in place already. Of course we still have people working in essential industries who need to travel. We need to have freight continue to move around Australia. We need to have food continue to be distributed across Australia, so that people don't starve in our country. So there still needs to be some movement. But this has to happen in a COVID-safe way. And there is an imperative for every industry that is involved, and the people working those industries, to make sure that they're doing everything they can not to put everyone in Australia at risk.

Thank you everybody, and thank you to our interpreters. Thank you.

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