Are you keeping count? According to one epidemiologist, Australians will need a third, even a fourth Covid booster shot. Here is their ABC giving the normie run down on this. But surely, if any critical rationality still exists, there needs to be questioning of why endless Covid shots are required. Why doesn’t this not show a fundamental flaw in the vaccines? And, if the vaccines do not deal with, in their own way, other variants, there will be multiple infinite regresses of vaccines. People will need to walk around, as long as they live with IV drips, to be constantly fuelled by the “lifesaving” vaxxes, as one authority described them in a Covid rhetorical flourish. Or, we stand our ground against this, as many fine Aussies are doing, and will do this weekend.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-13/epidemiologist-says-covid-booster-shots-may-be-needed/100616378?utm_medium=social&utm_content=sf251200194&utm_campaign=fb_abc_news&utm_source=m.facebook.com&sf251200194=1&fbclid=IwAR2Z6A8gTM0N3Yy-o0A1mk76Wp1erL77stTvB5GXEwOHriBvqavGDkLEUq0
“A leading epidemiologist says Australians will need a third and even a fourth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as the country enters the next phase of the pandemic.
The warning comes despite more than 80 per cent of people aged 16 and over being fully vaccinated with two doses.
Experts have warned being fully vaccinated may not be good enough next year as iterations of the virus inevitably emerge and some freedoms, such as entry into certain countries may require proof of additional doses.
Here's what you need to know about getting a booster shot.
Anyone who has had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine is considered fully vaccinated in Australia.
A booster shot is effectively another dose of a vaccine, but it does not add extra protection, rather it replenishes the immunity profile which will naturally wane over time.
This isn't a novel concept, booster shots for tetanus or whooping cough are administered regularly.
Regardless of which vaccine you've received, such as Pfizer or AstraZeneca, having both doses will significantly reduce your chance to contract, spread or fall seriously ill from the virus.
Why is it important to get a booster shot?
The antibodies your body produces will decline over time, according to epidemiologist Marylouise McLaws.
"From the time you've had your second dose your immune system responds really well and you're at the top of your immune response level," Professor McLaws said.
She said early research showed a booster shot would be required at about the sixth-month mark — sooner depending on which vaccine you've taken.
Because AstraZeneca has a lower overall effectiveness than Pfizer (about a 15 per cent difference), the recommended time for a booster shot would come earlier for the former.
Am I eligible to get a booster shot?
The first priority for booster shots will be in residential aged care facilities, which have accounted for a significant proportion of COVID deaths in Australia.
Other priority rollout areas for the federal government include disability care and frontline health workers where infection risks were elevated.
Pfizer will be the primary vaccine recommendation for booster shots, unless there are medical reasons to use another type such as Moderna.
Unlike the beginning of the year there isn't a struggle, or competition between states and territories for vaccine supplies.
Last week, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the state was "awash" with Pfizer vaccines and even indicated there was a risk large swathes of the stock could expire if not administered.
It's recommended you check your state's own booster shot program.
Booster shots are not mandatory anywhere in the world but Professor McLaws foresees countries imposing travel restrictions on people without booster shots.
"I can see that it will happen, absolutely," she said.
She pointed to the successful administration of booster shots for the elderly in Israel and said as data from booster programs continued to emerge, particularly from the US, it would likely change the framework for COVID responses.
"They'll start rolling it out and when they start seeing the impact on reducing infection transmission that will become part of a travel requirements," she said.
Health authorities have not indicated booster shot programs beyond the third dose, but NSW Health said it's still early days.
"Experts all over the world are tracking and researching the COVID-19 virus to better understand how long the vaccines will provide protection against COVID-19," NSW Health said on its website.
"This evidence will help to inform whether further boosters will be needed in the future."
Professor McLaws said a fourth shot would likely be needed "down the line" until vaccine researchers develop a jab which is resilient to new strains.
"We're getting this third shot because of Delta and as variants of concern emerge, they're not going to be less infectious, they're going to be even more infectious because they're going to have [experience] battling our immune system," Professor McLaws said.
She said, however, it was unlikely the fourth shot will be required within six months of the third.
Professor McLaws said a lot of countries were still "learning a lot" and nations were sharing invaluable health data.
"There are countries that have very kindly shared with us their full experiences, the good and the bad."”
There is no business, like vaccine business. Just ask those hundreds of health workers now set to lose their jobs. Say, if the vaccines were so fantastic, why are these people not getting jab, jab, jabbered, all day long?
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/hundreds-of-health-workers-at-risk-of-job-loss-over-covid-19-jabs-20211111-p5983v.html
“Up to 2000 health workers risk losing their jobs for not being vaccinated against COVID-19 with paramedics, nurses and doctors who have been stood down expected to explain why they have not got a shot.
NSW Health Services Union secretary Gerard Hayes said the state was “very close to making the call” about terminating the employment of health workers refusing to get a COVID-19 jab without an adequate reason.
He said of 140,000 employees, up to 1000, including his members faced losing their jobs in the coming weeks. He said paramedics, nurses, and doctors who were stood down at the end of last month were now expected to “show cause” why they have not been vaccinated. Nurse union members could take the number up a further 1000.
“Decisions could be made on their employment this week and next week,” Mr Hayes said. “It is a very small minority of health workers.”
NSW Health said 215 health workers had so far quit since late last month over their position on vaccination.
“Any further people leaving NSW Health due to their views on the COVID-19 vaccine will be known in coming weeks,” a NSW Health spokeswoman said. “Local Health Districts need to work through each person’s particular circumstances and due process needs to be applied to all employees.”
The news of further job losses come as a paramedic lost his Supreme Court challenge against mandatory vaccination on religious grounds on Wednesday.
John Edward Larter, a paramedic from Tumut in the NSW Riverina, sought an exemption from vaccination on religious grounds. He also challenged the validity of the COVID-19 public health orders that made it mandatory for him to get vaccinated.
The court rejected his application and upheld the public health orders saying it would be of no comfort to a patient infected by an unvaccinated healthcare worker to be told they were “unlucky by being in the wrong ward at the wrong time because most healthcare workers had been vaccinated”.
The court heard Mr Larter is a Catholic who was opposed to getting a COVID-19 vaccination because the AstraZeneca vaccine may have been developed from the cell lines of an aborted fetus. He was also opposed to stem cell research which he believes may have been used in the development of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
Justice Christine Adamson said she accepted the plaintiff’s religious beliefs “are genuinely held” and appeared “to depart from public statements made by the Catholic Church in response to the pandemic”. The Catholic Church has approved the use of COVID-19 vaccination.
At least 98 per cent of NSW Health’s workforce had received one dose of the vaccine and 95 per cent have received two doses.
“Of its entire workforce of more than 140,000 people, just 0.1 per cent (215) have resigned due to their vaccination position as of 25 October 2021,” the spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman said that while any resignation was disappointing, Local Health Districts had management plans in place to limit potential disruptions.
Meanwhile, the NSW Department of Education said 2500 teachers had not declared their vaccination status as of Thursday. But this did not mean they were unvaccinated. “As of November 11, approximately 700 staff had applied for a medical exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine and 350 had been accepted, allowing those staff to return to schools,” a spokesman said.
Comments