Covid-19 booster: Hospital rates spark new SA ad blitz

Peta Robinson was double vaxxed, hit the gym daily and ran 30km a week – but Covid still nearly killed her. Her message is clear: go and get your three jabs.

For Peta Robinson, fitness was a huge part of her life until Covid destroyed her body and healthy lifestyle.

With her trusty 11-year-old pet kelpie Lulu by her side, she would run an average 30km a week and hit the gym daily – sometimes twice a day when training for a half marathon.

But a recent Covid infection has left Ms Robinson, 34, of Glenelg, struggling to breathe or walk and battling to recover from multiple health complications.

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As one of the faces of the state government’s new vaccine campaign launching on Sunday, she has issued a desperate plea for people to get their third Covid jab.

She fell ill, and fought for life in intensive care, just a week before her booster jab.

“It was horrendous,” she wept. “I was thinking ‘I’m going to die’.

Peta Robinson with her dog Lulu. Picture Matt Turner

“I was calling family and loved ones with the little breath that I had, wondering if it was goodbye. I’m not religious but I rang my aunty and asked her to pray for me.

“My lasting memory is laying in a hospital bed thinking I was going to die. Even though I was young, healthy and double vaxxed, Covid nearly killed me.”

Miss Robinson, an occupational risk account manager, contracted Covid on a work trip to Melbourne in late January, which also doubled as a reunion with new partner Andrew, 36.

After testing negative before flying, she believes she fell ill on the flight.

She initially felt “rubbish” but her condition dramatically deteriorated before being rushed by ambulance to Sunshine Hospital in Melbourne’s inner northwest.

She spent the next nine days in hospital – seven of which on oxygen – and was also admitted to ICU.

Despite being super fit, her blood pressure and heart rates wildly fluctuated, she lost weight, suffered from pneumonia while diabetes fears were sparked by the drugs being administered.

“It was really hard to breathe and talk and the fatigue was hard. I couldn’t do anything,” she said.

She was eventually stabilised but adding to her woes, was a former boss who requested she work from her hospital bed.

She is now home in Adelaide with a new job and a positive outlook despite the myriad of specialist appointments.

“My life has changed,” she said. “I can’t run now more than a short distance. I can’t do much exercise.”

She has a simple message: “Covid is no joke. Live your life to the fullest but don’t ignore the social responsibility to protect yourself and others.”

Covid death-rate sparks grim revelations and new ad blitz

Hundreds of thousands of South Australians who have failed to get their third jab have a “substantially higher risk” of dying from Omicron, the state’s Covid-19 chiefs warn.

In a new call to arms, the state government will Sunday launch a new public vaccine campaign in a desperate bid to kickstart the sluggish booster jab program.

The blitz, dubbed “double vaxxed isn’t fully vaxxed”, highlights real life examples from patients and doctors on how coronavirus has ruined lives and killed 371 people.

New SA Health data shows double vaccinated patients have a more than 50 per cent higher risk of dying compared with those who are boosted.

Peta Robinson, with her dog Lulu, said she feared death as she spent a week in hospital with Covid in February. Picture: Matt Turner

But latest figures show almost 393,000 eligible double vaxxed adults have failed to have a third dose despite urgent pleas that it was the best protection against Omicron.

That rate has been stagnant around 70 per cent of eligible adults for months, sparking the Labor government’s new $2 million advertising crusade.

Premier Peter Malinauskas, who will launch the campaign at the Royal Adelaide Hospital today with chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier, warned against complacency.

“The freedoms we are now able to enjoy are in large part thanks to South Australians rolling up their sleeves and getting vaccinated,” he said.

“But we cannot afford to be complacent. Our doctors and nurses are telling us they are seeing too many people admitted to hospital who haven’t had their third dose.

“For the best protection against Omicron, South Australians need to get their third dose. Our message to South Australians is clear: double vaxxed isn’t fully vaxxed.”

In the past fortnight, SA Health has recorded wildly fluctuating daily case and hospital admission data, which authorities say mirrors official modelling.

Hospital admissions have not dropped below 200 Covid patients in more than a month.

New “death rates” show 60.7 tripled-boosted patients died per 100,000 people, compared to 93.6 for double-dosed and 146.5 for the unvaccinated.

Professor Spurrier, who believes the state faces a “perfect storm” from its first flu season in three years and new Omicron variants, said “vaccination saves lives”.

“Our local SA data shows that adults who are triple vaccinated have the most protection against severe impacts of Covid-19,” she said.

“Adults who are partially vaccinated (with) one or two doses, or unvaccinated, have a substantially higher risk of dying from Covid-19 compared to those with three doses.

“Being fully vaccinated against Omicron means three doses so please make sure you have your third dose – and a fourth winter dose if eligible – to ensure you’re fully protected.”

She said it was “particularly important” before winter amid rising Covid cases and restrictions being scrapped including density bans, masks and quarantine for close contacts.

“This year please also make sure you get your annual flu shot,” she said.

“This is particularly important as we see an increase of flu cases this year compared to the past two years.”