GSK's Dr Krystal Evans says the vaccine is critical in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic but that Australia will also need an ongoing 'nimble dance' of multiple interventions to combat the virus.
Recent reports of a possible “public health catastrophe” on Australia’s doorstep in Papua New Guinea with a “staggering” number of COVID cases highlight how important it is for Australia to be protecting our community, helping our neighbours and looking to the future with multiple strategies.
Australia has a lot to be proud of when it comes to how we’ve handled the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier this year we were rated among the top ten countries in the world based on our performance in managing the pandemic, largely due to strong leadership informed by top scientific and medical experts.
Our strong public health response has included travel restrictions, quarantine measures, social distancing, mask-wearing, contact tracing and testing and we are now rolling out a COVID-19 vaccination campaign.
However, as the lockdown in Melbourne this year (where I live and work) has shown, it is a precious and fragile success.
A pristine COVID-free environment is proving difficult to maintain while the global pandemic rages on. The virus has slipped through quarantine barriers in multiple capital cities in the past few months and each time the public health response has needed to be swift and decisive to help keep outbreaks from escalating into the next wave.
Shutting the Australian border has been a key strategy for keeping the virus at bay, but there are genuinely compassionate and economic reasons to continue to allow people to enter the country from overseas.
There are thousands of stranded Aussies waiting to come home to reunite with family and friends. Our higher education system is struggling due to the continuing absence of international students. Our tourism sector is increasingly frustrated as unpredictable state border closures make people hesitate to plan an interstate holiday. As 2021 progresses, many people will be looking for ways that we can confidently and safely engage with the world again.
Among many other initiatives and strategies, vaccination will play a key role in helping us realise this ambition. In Australia, around 8 out of 10 adults say they are willing to be vaccinated when a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available in the community.
However, we will need more than vaccines to build a COVID-free future.
The Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences recently concluded that Australia’s best strategy to maintain control over COVID-19 in 2021 is to adopt a multi-pronged approach. To help build resilience, we will need to continue with high levels of testing, efficient vaccine distribution and mental health support, as well as embracing research and innovation to develop new tools to tackle the ongoing pandemic.
In individuals who contract the virus and develop symptoms, treatment options are important to hasten recovery and help prevent complications.
Treatment guideline development is ongoing and is updated weekly by groups like the National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce.
We are learning more every day about which treatments may work to limit the impact of COVID on those who do become infected.
New therapies in development could potentially be used to treat people at high risk of COVID-19 complications as soon as they are diagnosed. There may come a time when our public health system builds on the current outbreak response to contact trace, test and isolate, to one where we can contact trace, test, isolate and then treat people, to help them recover faster and help reduce community spread.
To retain Australia’s ranking as one of the top global leaders in managing the pandemic we will need to use all available COVID-19 interventions - vaccines, treatments, testing, masks, hand hygiene, community education, social distancing, contact tracing and quarantine.
It will be a nimble dance, bringing in each measure to match the tempo of the virus’ spread. Together a range of tools can provide the choreography - the steps Australia can take to confidently journey through 2021.
Dr Krystal Evans (PhD) is the Medical Lead for COVID Therapeutics at GSK Australia and has a research background in immunology.
She has taken over the GSK twitter account this week to post a range of content related to our future management of COVID-19. Join the conversation and share views at https://twitter.com/GSK_AU
