There’s vaccine hesitancy, complacency and underutilisation.

Infections and deaths from COVID-19 are still occurring and the pandemic is not over. In the upcoming webcast on Tuesday 8th of November, A/Prof Paul Griffin stresses the importance of remaining on top of the ever-changing COVID landscape.

Despite the increase in COVID-19 cases A/Prof Griffin notes that people have become complacent with staying up-to-date with vaccinations and are not taking up boosters despite eligibility. Vaccine hesitancy due to the side effects of vaccination, especially myocarditis, was recently brought into the media spotlight.

However, he reminds us that it is important to consider this in the context of the risk of myocarditis from infection itself. A/Prof Griffin feels that GPs can make a real difference in helping to educate and improve vaccine uptake.

Novavax, despite arriving late to our shores, has an important role to play but unfortunately has been underutilised. The advice relating to this vaccine has changed over time, resulting in some confusion. A/Prof Griffin hopes to improve the understanding of this important vaccine in COVID-19 management.

The much-anticipated Omicron specific booster vaccine has also become recently available and there will be more to come explains A/Prof Griffin. Future vaccines will be delivered in traditional ways and others will likely be delivered intranasally.

Oral antivirals continue to have an important role. Though according to A/Prof Griffin, data indicates that the less efficacious oral antiviral is currently being prescribed five times more often- likely due to the fact that it has less complexity associated.

Appreciating the challenges and time constraints faced by GPs, strategies and tools to assess whether it is safe to prescribe particular oral antivirals will be discussed during the COVID-19 update. Additionally, for those who are immunocompromised, antibody therapies remain an important aspect of management that needs to always be considered says A/Prof Griffin.

There is ongoing surveillance to identify and monitor variants as a new form of COVID-19 can always suddenly change the stability of our situation in Australia. Some of these have already been flagged as potential serious threats. GPs remain at the frontline of COVID-19 management and play an integral role in communicating public health advice so having access to the latest information is critical.

A/Prof Griffin feels that everyone needs to be encouraged to follow the existing advice as there is a genuine risk of things deteriorating if we think that the pandemic is over when it is not.

A/Prof Paul Griffin will provide further insights and share the latest advice about the current state and trends involving COVID-19 in the upcoming free webcast on Tuesday 8th of November. Register here to attend.