Unvaccinated patients in intensive care in Gold Coast hospital

The Chief Health Officer has delivered an inconvenient truth to the unvaccinated, with the surging Covid situation on the Gold Coast – in which all patients in ICU are unvaccinated, or already had complex conditions – illustrating the difference the jab makes.

Every Covid case in intensive care on the Gold Coast is either unvaccinated or has a complex medical condition, in what an infectious diseases expert says is local evidence that the vaccine is protecting people from severe disease.

The state’s top doctor on Monday warned the Glitter Strip was experiencing a Covid surge, with almost a quarter of Queensland’s hospitalised coronavirus patients heralding from the region.

There are now 21 Queenslanders with the virus in intensive care, but 11 of them – or more than half – come from the Gold Coast.

Chief health officer Dr John Gerrard revealed that six of the patients were unvaccinated, while the other five already had complex health conditions.

“They (the unvaccinated) have classical Covid pneumonia of the type we saw in the pre-vaccination era,” Dr Gerrard said.

“Of the five others, they were double vaccinated but all had complex other medical issues that were mixed in with the cause for their intensive care admission.”

Dr Gerrard said the proportion of intensive care patients on the Gold Coast as well as the number of hospitalisations in the region suggested there was a “significant surge” of Covid on the Glitter Strip.

“It’s not surprising given the sheer number of interstate visitors which would have caused seeding events to have occurred,” he said.

“But I would also point out that the vaccination rates on the Gold Coast are on the low end – I think the lowest in southeast Queensland at least.”

Infectious diseases expert Dr Paul Griffin said the intensive care cases on the Gold Coast was local evidence that the vaccines protect people from severe disease.

Queensland infectious diseases expert Dr Paul Griffin. Picture: supplied

“That goes from hospitalisation to the more severe manifestations,” he said.

“We know this (Omicron) does tend to cause less severe illness than previous variants, but it does still have a very significant impact – and particularly in those that aren’t vaccinated.”

There were 9,581 Covid cases recorded in Queensland on Monday.

But this did not take into account results from four labs where they had been unable to pass on their data, which Health Minister Yvette D’Ath suggested could be due to a “glitch” during a software update.

There are also now 419 people in hospital being treated for the virus, including 101 from the Gold Coast.

Dr Gerrard said projections suggested that the rate of hospitalisations was expected to increase significantly in the next seven days and peak by about the first week of February.

But the government does not yet have any modelling to suggest what the peak number of cases in hospitals could be.

Dr Gerrard said the “main reason” Queensland was not experiencing a high number of admissions to intensive care was because of the state’s high rate of vaccination.

“It’s not because it’s Omicron,” he said.

Queensland chief health officer Dr John Gerrard during a press conference in Brisbane. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

“Omicron can definitely put you into an intensive care unit if you’re not vaccinated.

“It is slightly milder than the Delta strain or the previous strain.”

Police gave out 189 masks in the Sunshine State on Sunday, but Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski confirmed that 168 of them were dished out on the Gold Coast.

“As you’ve heard from the chief health officer, there are lower levels of vaccination and increased illness on the Gold Coast,” he said.

“So the message to all of our community, and particularly our people on the Gold Coast, please carry and use your mask.”

Children aged five to 11 began receiving their vaccinations on Monday, including 800 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre where walk-ins were turned away.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk during a visit to the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre vaccination hub. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said about 478,000 children aged five to 11 were now eligible to receive the jab – with 26,000 already registering through Queensland Health to get their vaccine.

“We’re going to see a lot more vaccinations done – not just in our vaccination centres, but right across the state,” she said.

“Also too with the great work of our GPs and our pharmacists right across Queensland.”