Most Aussies won’t even know they’ve got Omicron: Scientist gives a glimmer of hope that new strains of Covid WON’T be as bad as we head towards ‘herd immunity’
- Leading scientist confident many Aussies soon won’t realise they have Covid-19
- Professor Tony Blakely told The Project a ‘herd immunity’ is likely by April 2022
- Comes despite huge case numbers in NSW and Victoria from Omicron strain
A leading epidemiologist says most Australians won’t even know they have Covid as the country heads towards a ‘herd immunity’ scenario.
Professor Tony Blakely, of the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, told The Project it’s ‘very convincing’ that booster shots and rising case numbers would put the country in a better position to handle a new variant.
‘In three to four months time, once we’ve gone through this band-aid ripping pain, we could be in a very good resilient place,’ he said.
‘We’ll have the population largely vaccinated, including kids, we’ll have a lot of people boosted, and we’ll have somewhere between a third and two-thirds of people who will have been infected with Omicron – and most of them won’t even be aware of it,’ Professor Blakely said.
‘That whole package will make us more resilient – something like herd immunity – and more resilient to something that comes at us next.
‘I’m hoping this will be our big wave and then after that it will just be small shudders that come through that we’ll cope with a lot more easily.’
According to a recent study conducted by the University of NSW, Covid booster jabs will be key to sustain population protection against Covid-19.
Rapid contact tracing and isolation are also still important for those who have contracted the virus, and rapid antigen tests have proven to be vital for interstate travellers across Australia in recent weeks.
Professor Tony Blakely says Australians could become more resilient to new strains of Covid-19
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