Epidemiologist weighs-in on Omicron subvariant

A leading epidemiologist says while Australia is “well placed” to deal with the spread of the new BA.2 sub-variant of COVID-19, policy-makers need to look at all options.

BA.2 is estimated to be up to 30 per cent more infectious than the original Omicron strain.

Director of Doherty Epidemiology Infectious Diseases, professor Jodie McVernon, said it’s reasonable for policy-makers to look at “proportionate controls” if the spread gets out of hand.

“I think it’s important to keep all options available in terms of thinking about what we can do to reduce transmission spread,” she told Neil Mitchell on 3AW Mornings.

“Obviously vaccines have been really important there, and they will continue to protect against disease, but there’s a limit to how much of the heavy-lifting they can do.

“And so I think it’s just reasonable to keep thinking about what the options are.”

Press PLAY to hear the full interview below

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