Covid rules are destined to be phased out, public says health expert

A chief public health adviser has backed the rollback of all Covid-19 restrictions, saying we are likely to follow Israel in treating the virus in a similar manner to influenza.

The Australian public health delegation in Israel. Picture: Weizmann Institute of Science

One of Australia’s chief public health advisers has backed the eventual rollback of all Covid-19 restrictions, saying it is likely Australia will follow in the footsteps of Israel in treating the virus in a similar manner to influenza.

Allen Cheng, the former co-chair of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation and a current member of the committee, is touring Israel with a high-level Australian delegation. He says the country’s trajectory with Covid-19 provides hope for the future, with ongoing strong immunity in the derived from vaccines and natural infection.

“The way that they’re looking at Covid is pretty much how they’re looking at flu,” Professor Cheng said of Israel’s management of Covid-19. “I think it’s sort of a glimpse of our future.”

Professor Cheng is being ­hosted in Israel with 14 other ­leading Australian public health experts and clinicians by the country’s Ministry of Health and Foreign Affairs, which has shared insights into its vaccination rollout, epidemiology, infection control and hospital treatments.

The Doherty Institute’s Sharon Lewin, who is co-chair of the ­National Covid-19 Health and ­Research Advisory Council, is leading the delegation, which also includes NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant and SA chief health officer Nicola Spurrier. The ­exchange is being sponsored by the charity AUSiMED which facilitates medical research collaborations between Australia and Israel.

“On this tour, we’re hoping to learn a lot more about Israel’s health informatics and data systems and how similar approaches could be integrated into the Australian public health response,” Professor Lewin said.

Professor Cheng said the ­experience of Israel, which is currently recording a low number of hospitalisations, had given him confidence in the robust protection offered by hybrid immunity, which is gained by a combination of being vaccinated and having had natural infection.

“Even though that immunity does wane over time, what it does seem to do is take the edge off the severity of infection, so that even though people can get sick, they don’t end up in hospital anywhere near the same extent as they did before,” Professor Cheng said.

“It gives me confidence that this hybrid immunity for people that have had vaccines and infection is pretty good, actually.”

The mandatory isolation ­period for those with Covid-19 is now five days after national cabinet moved to reduce it from the previously mandated seven days. But Professor Cheng backed the eventual scale-back of all mandatory public health measures for Covid-19 to bring its management into line with that of influenza.

“I think it will be more providing health advice rather than mandatory isolation and heavy-handed enforcement,” he said. “It will be ‘don’t come to work if you’re sick’, whether you have flu or whether you have Covid. If things are getting bad there might be advice to put on your masks, and otherwise probably not.”

AUSiMED chairman Antony Cohen said the trip would “further deepen the person-to-person networks between our two countries and inform ongoing management of this pandemic and potentially other infectious diseases.”

Israel will soon be going into winter so may expect to see case numbers rise, and the possibility that a new variant could emerge at any time could also trigger future pandemic waves. The country was the first in the world to roll out fourth vaccine shots from early this year.