Boosting through Covid BA.5

Does having a doctor in the House and in charge of New Zealand’s pandemic policy make a difference? One of new Covid-19 Response Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall’s first decisions is a very sensible change.

Eligibility criteria for a second vaccine booster have been widened to include more people.

That’s a good move: Any chance to improve immunity levels of people more at risk of needing serious treatment should be taken — with the flu and cold weather around, and the country’s Covid numbers still hovering at a risky level. Health experts say the BA.5 subvariant of Omicron is the worst so far for immune escape and transmissibility.

Hospitals have been struggling with demand and GPS are under strain.

Previously the second booster was to be for anyone over 65, Ma¯ ori and Pasifika over 50, and immunocompromised people. Now it can also be given to anyone over 50, and workers in the health, aged-care and disability sectors over 30 — six months after their last dose.

Making the second booster available to people in daily close contact with the elderly and vulnerable makes sense. And there’s very little difference between the numbers of people hospitalised and in ICU aged in their 50s and 60s.

The seven-day average of deaths by and with Covid has been 12 or 13 in recent days. Most of our 1437 pandemic deaths have occurred this year — essentially that’s at least four annual road tolls in six months.

There are still key issues with boosters, such as whether Omicron-specific shots will soon be approved overseas; if they were developed for BA.1 they would still be effective enough against BA.5; and how to overcome the unpopularity of boosters amid pandemic fatigue. Only 52 per cent of New Zealand’s total population has had a first booster.

US scientist Dr Eric Topol says the bigger picture is that a new generation of variant-proof vaccines needs to be developed.

For now, the US has health data which shows better protection against dying from Covid for people aged 50-plus who have had two primary and two boosters.

Despite questions over the way forward, the vaccines have proven their worth.

A Lancet study last week estimated they prevented nearly 20 million deaths globally last year.

The virus is still killing, infecting, putting people in hospital daily, and causing disruption — including to the All Blacks squad. Studies show the incidence of long-covid overseas is high.

A bit of extra effort here to try to reduce the coronavirus spread is welcome. — NZ Herald