Dr Casolin answers your questions about COVID-19
We recently held an interactive livestream with our Chief Health Officer Dr Casolin, to answer your COVID-19 health related questions. Missed the livestream? You can watch the replay.
We’re almost two years into the pandemic and there’s been a lot of new information to wrap our heads around. So we asked Dr Casolin, to lend his expertise and answer your questions about COVID-19, vaccinations and other safety measures in place.
Top questions answered
Q: Are there alternatives to vaccination? For instance, can surveillance testing be used as an alternative to vaccination?
A: It depends what you’re aiming to achieve. If you’re aiming to reduce your own personal risk of transmitting an unknown infection to someone else then yes you could use rapid antigen testing. If you test yourself at home and are negative, then you can have a high degree of confidence that you’re not going to infect someone else. However, there are two important additional considerations. One is your risk of catching COVID from someone else. The second is your risk of suffering a severe episode should you contract COVID. Undertaking surveillance testing won’t alter these risks.
Q: How long does the COVID vaccination last and will we need to get a booster shot at certain intervals?
A: Six months is the figure after which you need to have a third dose, which isn’t unusual as there are other vaccines that require three doses such as Hepatitis B. We don’t know yet how long immunity might last after the third dose.
Q: When do you think children under 12 will be able to be vaccinated and are they at greater risk until then?
A: Pfizer have given data to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) on use of vaccines in 5 – 12 years olds so it may not be too long before we can start vaccinating that age group. Children are less likely than adults to have a severe episode from COVID but that’s not to say it could never happen, particularly in a vulnerable child.
Q: When will Novavax be available in Australia?
A: Novavax submitted their application to the TGA in the last week. The data regarding the efficacy of Novavax seems to be as good as the other vaccines we are using now so it will depend on the timing it takes to be approved and rolled out.
Q: On a windy day is there potential for the virus to travel further and cause infection to people who are more than 1.5 meters away from someone who is infected?
A: If it’s windy you might think that the virus can travel further but it also gets dispersed, which is why it’s safer to be outside.
Q: Do we mix and match our boosters or do we have the same vaccine?
A: For the time being Pfizer is the main vaccine being used for 3rd doses, so people who were initially vaccinated with AstraZeneca won’t receive the same vaccine.
More information
If you’d like hear all of the questions and answers, you can watch the full replay of the livestream.
You can also visit StayInformed for the latest COVID-19 updates.
