NATALIE BARR, CO-HOST: COVID cases are expected to rise from this week but unlike this time 12 months ago, we are being told not to worry.
DAVID KOCH, CO-HOST: Phew. That's because the new strains pose less of a risk. But we're still being urged to get vaccinated.
BARR: Joining us now is chief medical officer Paul Kelly. Good morning to you. Thank goodness it's been a while since we've talked to you, isn’t it? Tell us how are COVID case numbers looking right now and how much could we see those numbers rise?
PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Well, they certainly are rising, as you said in your intro there, Nat. How it will go in the future is a matter of speculation, really, but these are these are more transmissible variants, but not more severe and compared with where we were 12 months ago, where we hadn't seen Omicron at all, this is another variation of Omicron, from the grandchildren of Omicron, if you like.
There's a couple of different variants. They are more transmissible, but not more severe. Now's the time to consider if you are due for a vaccine, go and get one third or fourth dose, whichever one you're eligible for.
And if you're in those high-risk groups, particularly people over the age of 70, make sure you've got a plan to get anti-viral treatments if you were to get infected.
But in general, we're in a much better position than we were last year. There's plenty of tests and so forth around and so keep going on.
KOCH: We've heard this before, Paul Kelly. I've had two Christmases in lockdown. Can you guarantee we won't go into lockdown this Christmas no matter what the numbers get to?
KELLY: Oh well, Kochie, you know, that's not my decision but, look, I don't think that…
KOCH: Can you slap the politicians down?
KELLY: No, I don’t slap politicians down.
BARR: You want to, though.
KELLY: My advice at the moment is be alert but not afraid, I think would be a good way of looking at it. We've seen these same variants go through other countries, particularly Singapore, and most recently. They had a very quick, sharp wave of cases, but not a lot else and then they moved on.
And I think that's probably where we'll be. We have very high hybrid immunity at the moment from both previous infection and vaccine and so we're in a good place.
BARR: Okay. So, most people are vaccinated in Australia, but we all got our vax, most of us got our vaccines many, many months ago. How long do they last?
KELLY: Well, in terms of protection against severe disease, probably quite a long time. We haven't exhausted that yet when you consider that most of us got our third doses, say, a year ago or in this in the more recent months… so that protection lasts. It doesn't last so well against transmission or protection against infection. And so that's where having been infected as well gives you an extra boost in protection.
But now's the time to get that extra vaccine if you're due. At the moment, we're not we're not considering further doses if you're already up to date. But that that's something that ATAGI will continue to look at overthe coming months.
KOCH: So the way we've moved on is how we treat it rather than prevent it, isn’t it, the antiviral medicine is the thing. If you get it, get your antivirals and then you'll be right.
KELLY: For those that are more vulnerable to severe infection. Yes. It's not for everyone, but for people over the age of 70, absolutely. If you're in that age group, go and get those antivirals. Get them started as quickly as possible.
50-year-olds with extra risk factors and certain other groups. But you can get that information from the health.gov.au website.
KOCH: Okay. Reassuring.
BARR: Okay, Paul Kelly, thanks for all the information.
KELLY: Great. Thanks a lot.
KOCH: Good to see you.
BARR: COVID cases are expected to rise from this week but unlike this time 12 months ago, we are being told not to worry.
KOCH: Phew. That's because the new strains pose less of a risk. But we're still being urged to get vaccinated.
BARR: Joining us now is chief medical officer Paul Kelly. Good morning to you. Thank goodness it's been a while since we've talked to you, isn’t it? Tell us how are COVID case numbers looking right now and how much could we see those numbers rise?
KELLY: Well, they certainly are rising, as you said in your intro there, Nat. How it will go in the future is a matter of speculation, really, but these are these are more transmissible variants, but not more severe and compared with where we were 12 months ago, where we hadn't seen Omicron at all, this is another variation of Omicron, from the grandchildren of Omicron, if you like.
There's a couple of different variants. They are more transmissible, but not more severe. Now's the time to consider if you are due for a vaccine, go and get one third or fourth dose, whichever one you're eligible for.
And if you're in those high-risk groups, particularly people over the age of 70, make sure you've got a plan to get anti-viral treatments if you were to get infected.
But in general, we're in a much better position than we were last year. There's plenty of tests and so forth around and so keep going on.
KOCH: We've heard this before, Paul Kelly. I've had two Christmases in lockdown. Can you guarantee we won't go into lockdown this Christmas no matter what the numbers get to?
KELLY: Oh well, Kochie, you know, that's not my decision but, look, I don't think that…
KOCH: Can you slap the politicians down?
KELLY: No, I don’t slap politicians down.
BARR: You want to, though.
KELLY: My advice at the moment is be alert but not afraid, I think would be a good way of looking at it. We've seen these same variants go through other countries, particularly Singapore, and most recently. They had a very quick, sharp wave of cases, but not a lot else and then they moved on.
And I think that's probably where we'll be. We have very high hybrid immunity at the moment from both previous infection and vaccine and so we're in a good place.
BARR: Okay. So, most people are vaccinated in Australia, but we all got our vax, most of us got our vaccines many, many months ago. How long do they last?
KELLY: Well, in terms of protection against severe disease, probably quite a long time. We haven't exhausted that yet when you consider that most of us got our third doses, say, a year ago or in this in the more recent months… so that protection lasts. It doesn't last so well against transmission or protection against infection. And so that's where having been infected as well gives you an extra boost in protection.
But now's the time to get that extra vaccine if you're due. At the moment, we're not we're not considering further doses if you're already up to date. But that that's something that ATAGI will continue to look at overthe coming months.
KOCH: So the way we've moved on is how we treat it rather than prevent it, isn’t it, the antiviral medicine is the thing. If you get it, get your antivirals and then you'll be right.
KELLY: For those that are more vulnerable to severe infection. Yes. It's not for everyone, but for people over the age of 70, absolutely. If you're in that age group, go and get those antivirals. Get them started as quickly as possible.
50-year-olds with extra risk factors and certain other groups. But you can get that information from the health.gov.au website.
KOCH: Okay. Reassuring.
BARR: Okay, Paul Kelly, thanks for all the information.
KELLY: Great. Thanks a lot.
KOCH: Good to see you.
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