Australia is a victim of its own success as it plans a strategy for the next phase of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, according to Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly, who ruled out a herd immunity approach adopted by other nations.
Key points:
- Professor Kelly said a herd immunity wouldn’t help Australia with its next steps
- Without a vaccine, he said that a second wave of COVID-19 was likely
- Professor Kelly said states and territories must make their own decisions about easing restrictions
Herd immunity is when a large proportion of the population becomes infected with a disease, but many recover and become immune to it.
Speaking to reporters in Canberra this afternoon, Professor Kelly warned against a second wave of infections as restrictions around the country began to lift with no vaccine in sight.
“We’re continuing to do well in Australia … in one sense we’re victims of our success to an extent, because we’ve had so few people that have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and we are