Prof Jodie McVernon urges ‘more nuanced discussion about how we learn to live with this new virus’ and look for treatments

This article is more than 4 months old

This article is more than 4 months old

An infectious disease expert advising the government on the spread of Covid-19 has warned there is no guarantee that a vaccine will be found soon.

Prof Jodie McVernon, director of Doherty Epidemiology, told the ABC’s Q+A program on Monday she was concerned there was “dogma out there” that a vaccine for the virus could be found within a year to 18 months.

McVernon said there were “no certainties here” and while she hoped a vaccine could be found “it isn’t a guarantee”.

She said: “That’s why this needs to be a much more nuanced discussion about how we learn to live with this new virus, how we adapt to it over time, how we mitigate its risks and harms, how we keep looking for new therapies and other treatments that might reduce the death toll … and hoping for a vaccine, but being aware it may not come. That is important.”

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In a discussion about “herd immunity”, McVernon said a “let it rip” strategy that some have advocated for was “clearly not going to be our policy” in Australia.

But she explained while herd immunity was a way to achieve a long-term level of protection in society either by vaccine or by infection, “we don’t know whether a single exposure to [Covid-19] is enough to be in the clear forever”.

She said: “I think we need to understand much more about the biology of the virus before we would feel that was a safe outcome, even given the undesirable path to getting there.”

She called for a “more nuanced” discussion about the way Australia and the world may have to live with the virus if a vaccine couldn’t be developed quickly.

QandA (@QandA) #QandA is live with National COVID-19 Coordination Commission Chairman Nev Power, @sallymcmanus, @SimonLongstaff, economist Gigi Foster, and @jmcvernon https://t.co/DVM91zfCWJ

In a seperate discussion, just hours before the program went to air, reports emerged that Virgin Australia was about to go into administration, putting thousands of jobs at risk.

Sally McManus, secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, asked why governments could not buy a stake in the airline to help secure the jobs and then sell the equity at a later date.

She said even though governments have always said they should not be “in the business of picking winners”, the pandemic was “a good reason to suspend these normal orthodoxies”.

“[Governments] don’t want to interfere in the market. But the market has stopped. It’s been shut. All the airlines have had to be grounded, not because of some market failure or business decisions, it’s been because of the pandemic.”

Virgin Australia set to enter voluntary administration with thousands of jobs at risk Read more

Neville Power, chairman of the government’s advisory group the National Covid-19 Coordination Commission, said Australia needed to “make sure that we have two competitive airlines”.

He said while the commission did have a role to play, it was too early to say what the best approach would be.

“There’s been a lot of work going on behind the scenes to understand the issues, the specific issues that are facing Virgin and for that matter all the airlines, and to work out what’s the best approach to that.

“Let’s not forget Virgin has some very powerful major shareholders that can also be contributing to this. It’s not just down to government.

“And I think under the right conditions, then Virgin can be maintained and kept as a second airline in Australia. I don’t think it’s fully played out yet.”