Australia’s peak medical group has belatedly backed the national plan out of the Covid pandemic after months of criticising it.
The Australian Medical Association gave cautious support for lockdowns to end at 70 per cent vaccination, and borders opening at 80 per cent.
But it warned against reopening based purely on vaccination rates and suggested Covid-riddled Sydney and Melbourne may need to move slower.
Even states and areas with no Covid cases may need to impose stricter health measures as a precaution when borders reopen and lockdowns end.
Australia’s planned route out of lockdown has been backed by doctors, but they still warn against big cities being too hasty while they’re in the midst of Covid outbreaks. (Pictured, a group of women enjoy a glass of champagne at Sydney’s Bondi Beach)
They fear that opening up too much, too soon will lead to overloaded hospitals and a health system unable to cope with an increasing spread of the virus.
‘We need to do everything we can to avoid our hospitals collapsing from opening up too early,’ AMA president Dr Omar Khorshid said.
‘We need planning, not just around ICU beds, but around staffing and how the primary health sector, including GPs, can support critical Covid care.
‘We don’t want to see the healthcare system become the handbrake on the economy and our ability to open up.’
The AMA also called for mandatory vaccination for all health workers, and legal protection for employers wanting to mandate vaccination for their employees.
The national reopening plan – approved by the federal government and all states and territories – is based on modelling by the Doherty Institute.
AMA president Dr Omar Khorshid (pictured right with Prime Minister Scott Morrison) warned against re-opening based purely on vaccination rates alone and said Covid-riddled Sydney and Melbourne may need to move more slowly
The AMA fears that opening up too much, too soon will lead to overloaded hospitals and a health system unable to cope with an increasing spread of the virus. (Pictured, a Covid patient in ICU receives treatment at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital)
About 71.2 per cent of the adult population have received their first dose nationally, and 50.6 per cent of adults are fully vaccinated.
The outbreak in NSW appears to have peaked after a week of case numbers stabilising around 1100-1300 per day while the Victorian outbreak has wobbled around the 500-mark for the last three days,
The Doherty Institute updated its modelling on Friday to account for the high case numbers in Melbourne and Sydney and recommended continuing ‘medium’ safety measures during the reopening process.
But the AMA claimed even the revised modelling did not take into consideration the effect on the hospital system, which will be ‘overwhelmed’ for a few weeks in late October and early November.
They fear that the focus has been on the public being able to return to pubs and restaurants without considering the wider implications.
The AMA wants a pledge for increased government funding to cope with the additional demand on the health system from both Covid and the backlog that Covid has created,
The outbreak in NSW appears to have peaked after a week of case numbers stabilising around 1100-1300 per day while the Victorian outbreak has wobbled around the 500-mark for the last three days. (Pictured, Victorian premier Dan Andrews)
The AMA have also called for mandatory vaccination for all health workers, and legal protection for employers wanting to mandate vaccination for their employees. (Pictured, an anti-vaxxer protester)
‘The health system needs to be much better prepared to deal with the growing burden of Covid-19, as well as delivering non-Covid-19 related care,’ Dr Khorshid said.
The AMA wants more detailed advice on what public health measures will be eased or modified as each vaccination target is achieved.
But they also want to see the action plan proposed after reopening if infection numbers are likely to overwhelm testing, contact tracing and quarantine capacity.
They also want the Doherty modelling reviewed and updated on a regular basis and details on vaccination targets including children for the final phase of reopening.
Dr Khorshid said governments needed to be realistic, careful and test each change and the impact of measures before moving to the next phase, given there were more than 1,000 new cases a day.
‘There’s a lot more at stake here than just our ability to go back to our normal lives and go out for dinner,’ he said.