Safe, not sorry on vaccine
THE progress being made around the world to develop a vaccine to conquer COVID-19 is encouraging, but Australia’s Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, Alison McMillan, says its development can’t be rushed.
The University of Queensland and Australian drug maker CSL have recently said they will have the capacity to make vaccines in the next to 12 to 18 months, encouraged by their recent trials.
“There are very encouraging signs all over the world of different vaccines that may have early promise,” Ms McMillan said yesterday.
“You can’t rush this; we need to make sure it’s safe. While we are waiting for that vaccine, we need to keep doing what we’ve been doing so that we don’t see further outbreaks.”
She said 12 new coronavirus cases were reported since Saturday, nine in Victoria.
“These outbreaks will continue, there’s no doubt about that, but the thing we will do is get on them quickly … so we can contain the spread,” she said.
Protesters for the second consecutive week defied public health warnings and rallied in Sydney, Perth, Darwin, Adelaide and Melbourne on Friday and Saturday.
Ms McMillan acknowledged the importance of what these protests are trying to achieve, but said it was a crucial time in trying to keep the virus suppressed as restrictions are eased.
There have been more than 7300 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across Australia and 102 fatalities, which is small by international comparison.