Covid vaccination rates and new treatments

THE Federal government has announced this morning that 1 million people each week are now being vaccinated in Australia and a new treatment for people with mild to moderate is undergoing approval.

Currently 77 percent of the population have the intention to be vaccinated and only 13 percent have expressed hesitancy.

More than 200,000 vaccinations are now being administered each day in Australia, with this expected to double as more vaccines become available.

Moderna is expected to be approved by the Therapeutic Goods Association (TGA) in the next two weeks.

The TGA is also in the process of approving a new treatment Sotrovimab a monoclonal antibody, which mimics the immune system and may be beneficial for people who have mild to moderate symptoms and if administered early in the illness, may help prevent hospitalisation and more serious illness.

However, the Federal Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, cautioned it is “not a silver bullet” and is not suitable for all patients.

The Chief Health Officer Professor Paul Kelly said, “this medicine is not for everybody and it is an antibody – aimed at people who are at the highest risk of disease – it is very useful in certain situations – but not for everyone.”

Professor Kelly said they continue to monitor the progress of hundreds of potential treatments in clinical trials around the world and hope a simple treatment in oral table form which is broadly suitable for most patients, like Tamiflu, could be produced, but currently it doesn’t exist.

Professor Kelly said while the medical community had hoped two early identified potential treatments, hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, may have boosted the immune system, to date trials have not shown that is the case, however trials are continuing.