Coronavirus experience drives home importance of vaccination
The reality of a rapidly spreading virus without a vaccine has revealed again how important it is to fight dangerous diseases in every way possible, public health officials say.
SA News
Don't miss out on the headlines from SA News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The world’s coronavirus crisis has highlighted why vaccinations are so important and why anti-vaxxers are so dangerous, a key South Australian health official says.
As South Australia recorded no new coronavirus cases for the third day in a row Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Michael Cusack also stressed how dangerous COVID-19 is because there is no vaccine.
“There’s a global effort in terms of trying to find a solution to this and we really do hope that in the next year to 18 months that we do see a viable vaccine,” he said.
“In respect to those diseases which we can control with vaccination, given the imperative that we see when we haven’t got a vaccination, I would really impress upon people that they should wherever possible please do try and get themselves vaccinated.
“It saves harm and it saves lives.”
Dr Cusack’s sentiments were echoed by Health Minister Stephen Wade who told the Sunday Mail that year in year out vaccines protect South Australians from the health, economic and social havoc of dangerous viruses.
“I pray that COVID-19 will be a once-in-a-century reminder of the power of vaccination,” Mr Wade said.
“As has been said ‘for those who wanted a world with no vaccines … here’s the world without one vaccine’.”
Dr Cusack announced today the state had recorded no new coronavirus cases for the third day in a row.
It brings the total number of cases in SA to 438.
The number of people recovered is at 402, or 92 per cent of cases.
Of the 32 active cases, four are still in hospital. Two are in the intensive care unit – a 68 year old male and a 75 year old male.
There have been 51,000 tests done since February.
South Australia’s two week testing blitz, where anyone showing signs of fever, chills or signs of respiratory infection could be tested, ends on Thursday.
But Dr Cusack said expanding testing, including to asymptomatic people, was on the agenda.
“In terms of us maintaining confidence in terms of what the levels of virus are in the community we certainly do need to maintain a high rate of testing,” he said.
MORE NEWS
100 jobs most at risk of COVID-19
The fight for Adelaide’s urban trees
“Only a week or two ago we were saying that while we were seeing no or very few cases these were based on a relatively small number of tests so we are keen to increase that.
“In terms of gaining further assurance and also information as to whether we do have asymptomatic pockets of the virus in the community, we do plan to test groups of asymptomatic individuals and the nature of those groups are in discussion at the moment.”