COVID boosters available

Transcript: AMA Queensland President, Dr Maria Boulton, ABC Brisbane, Breakfast with Craig Zonca and Loretta Ryan, Monday 11 July 2022

Subjects:   Fourth COVID dose, antiviral treatments, mask mandates

CRAIG ZONCA:   The fourth dose of a COVID vaccine, now opening up to a whole new range of people, another 7.4 million Australians become eligible, effectively anyone over the age of 30 and recommended if you are over the age of 50. Dr Maria Boulton is the President of the Australian Medical Association in Queensland, has her GP practice in Windsor. Maria Boulton, good morning.

DR MARIA BOULTON:    Good morning, Craig and Loretta.

CRAIG ZONCA:   Have there been many people actually calling up for appointments for the fourth dose yet?

DR MARIA BOULTON:   There has been a few and we do mainly online appointments though. So we haven't had too many phone calls and we do prefer online bookings. And certainly this morning, we've got two doctors who just presented for their fourth booster.

CRAIG ZONCA:   Oh, okay.

DR MARIA BOULTON:   Bright and early.

CRAIG ZONCA:   Yeah. Isn’t it what? Just a question from Loretta, because you've just booked in.

LORETTA RYAN:   Yeah. My story was, mum and I both had COVID. Mum had it from the 22nd of April to the 29th. Now I tried to book her in to get her fourth dose because she's over 80 and I wanted her to get in to get it, because it was December that she had the last one. It's a long time in between then she got COVID. We were told by the pharmacy in question that no, she had to wait till the end of July because the three months wasn't up yet from the time she had COVID. I went to her GP and spoke to another pharmacist and they both said, no, no, you can get in and get it straight away. What is the rule, Maria?

DR MARIA BOULTON:   I just looked up the ATAGI guidelines and ATAGI is still saying three months from your previous infection. If it was the 22nd of April, it would be the 22nd of July. Of course, if someone's traveling or if they're about to become immunosuppressed etc, it will be up to the person giving the vaccine. There is a bit of leeway there.

LORETTA RYAN:   Right? Because being over 80, I just thought it would be necessary for her to get it. And that's in a high risk group. As it is, it’s going to be this Friday, which is probably only a week or two out. That's okay?

DR MARIA BOULTON:   It's what ATAGI is recommending at the moment, but I completely understand why you'd want it now. And these things change all the time and we know that the vaccines wax and wane a little bit sooner against Omicron, so it may well be that the advice may change, but the advice as to this morning, it's three months.

CRAIG ZONCA:   And Maria Boulton, at the moment, Queensland has the lowest rate of eligible people getting a booster shot in Australia. That's still sitting around that 63 per cent mark. Should the focus still be on getting your first booster, your third dose, rather than the fourth dose in the Sunshine State right now?

DR MARIA BOULTON:   Absolutely the focus should be on becoming up to date. So if you're due for your third booster, go and get your third booster. If you're due for your fourth booster, go get your fourth booster. And don't forget all the other stuff like wearing a mask, social distancing, staying home if you're sick, having a test. And if you think you may be eligible for an antiviral, having that conversation with a doctor about an antiviral.

CRAIG ZONCA:    Oh yeah, what's changed in that regard, Maria Boulton?

DR MARIA BOULTON:   What's changed is the eligibility. Basically the Department of Health have said that more people are now eligible for the antiviral. And the important thing about antivirals is, say with Loretta's relative because she's 80, she would be immediately eligible for an antiviral. And what antivirals do is not just for people who have severe symptoms, but it's also for people to prevent severe symptoms. So if you're immunosuppressed, if you're over 70, if you're over 50 and have other risk factors, if you are First Nations person over 30 and have other risk factors, it's important that you call your GP and see if you're eligible for an antiviral.

LORETTA RYAN:   When do you take them? Is it when you have COVID?

DR MARIA BOULTON:   Yes. It's when you have COVID so you must have symptoms and that's where it gets a bit tricky, Loretta, because we know that not all RATs are picking up COVID, if you do a RAT test at home and it's negative but you still have symptoms and you feel it may be COVID, it might be a good idea to speak with your doctor and get a PCR, because PCRs are much more sensitive. For example, if you're talking about your relative is 80 who's at risk of severe COVID, I would be getting a PCR if the RAT test was negative and she had symptoms.

LORETTA RYAN:   Right. Okay. Because I'm, there was a friend of mine who had really bad symptoms, had COVID, rang her doctor about the antivirals, but he said no, you don't need them. Or she was too far into COVID, I think it was.

DR MARIA BOULTON:   Yeah. You must have those antivirals within the first five days. If you miss those first five days, it's too late. They make no difference. That's what we're seeing in Queensland, in Queensland, people are presenting quite late. So I had a lady who is 70ish and she presented on day seven with a cough that she'd got from her grandchild. And we did the test, it was COVID, but it was too late for her for the antivirals. But luckily she was up to date with her vaccines and her disease wasn't severe. It was mild to moderate.

CRAIG ZONCA:   Dr Maria Boulton with you here on ABC Radio Brisbane. She's the President of the Australian Medical Association in Queensland. Maria, I don't know if you were watching the rugby on the weekend or the football, and then there’s State of Origin this week, we've got some major, big sporting events that's bringing together thousands and thousands of people. On the TV coverage I didn't see many wearing a mask. If you were chatting to a patient who was heading to one of those games, would you be suggesting that they should put a mask on?

DR MARIA BOULTON:   Absolutely. And I was at a big shopping centre yesterday and I reckon my daughter and I were the only two people wearing a mask and that's indoors. And we know that masks work. There's no doubt about it. They are effective. And we need to bring this wave under control. We don't want our hospitals, I mean, our hospitals are already stretched, but we don't want to see the scenes that we saw from Italy or from the States. What happens with pandemics is that people not just die from the virus, but other illnesses because they don't have access to the hospital services which may be overwhelmed. So it's important that we bring this wave under control.

LORETTA RYAN:   Are there enough pharmacies, GPs, giving out the vaccines now? I know of at least one on the northside who can no longer give the vaccines because of staff shortages.

DR MARIA BOULTON:   At the moment, what we're seeing is that staff are becoming unwell and it might be a little bit, I suppose, a little bit harder to get in, to get an appointment, but there's plenty of supply. So perhaps if that pharmacy isn't doing it, you can go Healthdirect, look up a local GP or another pharmacy that might have the vaccines. There's no shortage of supply at the moment.

CRAIG ZONCA:   And Maria Boulton, just before you go, you were talking about your own experience at the shops on the weekend and not many people wearing a mask. Does that change your opinion about whether there should be a broadening of the mask mandate?

DR MARIA BOULTON:   I guess with the mandates, it is entirely up to the Chief Health Officer, but AMA Queensland has not stopped recommending masks and there's still a mandate if you're going into a healthcare facility, a hospital or a general practice that you must wear a mask. People are arguing with us at the moment. And the thing is that you need to be kind to that receptionist.

CRAIG ZONCA:   Yeah.

DR MARIA BOULTON:   We're just trying to keep people safe. And that is the one thing that you can do easily. Put a mask on.

CRAIG ZONCA:   Very easy to do, good advice, Maria Boulton, thanks so much. And good luck as this, the fourth dose and the eligibility opens up to a broader range of the population from today. The President of the Australian Medical Association in Queensland.