Repeat virus waves’ effects worrying, expert says

CANBERRA: The head of an Australian medical institute says Covid19 is winning there, with repeat waves threatening worse outcomes for the reinfected.

Burnet Institute director Brendan Crabb said current strategies to combat the country’s caseload were not working.

‘‘What the numbers say is that we’re simply not winning,’’ Crabb said in a television interview on Sunrise on Saturday.

‘‘The latest wave we just had . . . was the worst wave we’ve had this year. More hospitalisations and more deaths.’’

Australia reported another 15,301 Covid19 cases and — fatalities on Saturday, and the nation is on track to record its 10 millionth case within a week.

Crabb said there was an ‘‘attitude problem’’.

‘‘We haven’t quite grasped the fact that having lots of virus in our community is bad. We have to change to reduce transmission, to be intolerant of the amount of virus in our community.’’

US researchers had been analysing people who had repeatedly contracted the virus and found the risk of acute and chronic disease accumulated with each new infection.

That was worrying, Crabb said. ‘‘There is no wall of immunity built by infection against the impacts of infection,’’ he said.

‘‘Herd immunity’’ was real, but the way to reach it was vaccination, not infection, he said.

The latest data shows about 14.2 million Australians have had three vaccine doses, while about 4.5 million have had four.

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation last month updated recommendations to say people aged 30 to 49 are eligible for a fourth shot, and those 50 to 64 should also get one. Older Australians were already able to receive a fourth vaccine. — AAP