We are Covid FATIGUED.
Hence this shortish update. After all, we would prefer to catch up on more interesting news on our screens. Here at AusTrials, we get it. We have all been suffering through the past few years together. Understandable as our feelings can be, they can also distract our attention.
To place things in perspective, in the one-week period from 18th June 2023, Australia lost approximately 50 people to Covid. Yet, due to our understandable fatigue, popular media channels no longer report such figures. In fact, during this same period, Aussies and the media were transfixed by the tragic unfolding of the missing Titan deep sea submersible.
Why should this virus still be newsworthy, when the search term ‘Covid’ only received about 1 million hits over the past month in the USA, while the term ‘Titan’ scored almost 2 million?
The mystery and stories associated with the missing Titan were temporarily captivating, while the 50 souls who lost their lives to Covid casualties were hidden in a pandemic we’d all rather forget.
To the families and friends of those 50, the loss is very real and enduring.
What has Covid taken from our world so far?
Covid first awoke in November 2019, and by mid-June 2023, had caused almost seven million confirmed deaths, with the true death toll estimated to be around twenty million worldwide. This is equivalent to the casualties of World War 1, and the numbers are still growing.
But isn’t Covid just like another ‘flu’ now?
We too wish it was so.
The ‘flu’ (or influenza) virus caused one-tenth the toll of Covid, or two million deaths, over the last three and a half years.
So, comparing Covid to the flu is like comparing a hungry lion to a growling pit bull. The pit bull can be dangerous, but it is not a lion. All the other viruses out there are more like cats, although a few (including RSV or Respiratory Syncytial Virus), can be quite feral.
So how are Aussies doing in getting ourselves boosted?
The low rates of booster vaccinations confirm that many of us are either napping in our tent, or glued to our screens, as the lion prowls outside.
The younger we are, the less willing we have been to get boosted. In eligible Aussies over 65, just under 40% have been boosted in the past 6 months. For the 18–30-year-olds, the rate has been less than 4%.
So why should we consider the Bivalent vaccine?
This is our latest and best defence. ‘Bi-valent’ in the world of vaccination science means double coverage – which means the newest Covid vaccine teaches your body’s immune cells to defend against not just the original Wuhan strain (which is now over three years old), but also the currently circulating Omicron BA4/5 strain. The good news is that the risks of side effects are no greater with the Bivalent vaccine compared to its weaker ‘monovalent’ versions.
How much better is the Bivalent vaccine?
The latest evidence shows that, compared to the original monovalent vaccines, having a bivalent vaccine further reduces our risk of contracting Covid by 40-50%. It also significantly further reduces the risk of hospitalization and death.
Encouraging news for those of us who would like less needles.
You may be encouraged to know that research trials are now well underway towards combining the Covid-19 booster with the annual flu shot (and in the future, potentially other important common cold viruses that also keep mutating and spreading). This will make it so much more convenient to be protected against new strains of our most deadly viruses. Epidemiological research shows that we roll up our sleeves much more readily to combination vaccines.
Focusing on what we can do together.
We are offering a trial delivering the latest Bivalent vaccine, for adults whose last booster was more than three months ago. This trial will foreseeably also help pave the way for a future combination vaccine (for example, to RSV and/or influenza). For further information, please visit: https://austrials.com.au/events/curevac-covid-19-booster/