Burnet’s submission to the Commonwealth Government’s COVID-19 Response Inquiry provides an analysis of the outcomes and impact of the pandemic in Australia and identifies lessons to assist in planning for future pandemics.
The submission focuses on high-level outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia and identifies lessons to assist in planning for future pandemics, as well as ending those we currently have.
Burnet’s submission breaks the pandemic down into two distinct phases:
Phase 1: The pre-vaccination and pre-Omicron era in 2020-21, which saw hard won yet remarkable and sustained success by international comparison.
Phase 2: The post-vaccination era, post-opening omicron era of 2022-23 day, which saw Australia with high mortality and morbidity that was roughly in line with many comparable nations.
The submission discusses the value of Australia’s 2020-21 aggressive suppressive transmission strategy, in the absence of effective pharmaceutical interventions, and outlines measures for future pandemics to achieve similar outcomes without the highly restrictive public health measures of stay-at-home orders and border closures.
The submission emphasises the ‘passive protection’ power of strong, uniform airborne controls, with the need to engage communities in all stages of the response to maximise the uptake of interventions.
Burnet Director and CEO Professor Brendan Crabb AC said given the magnitude of daily infections across the world, it was clear we had not yet ended the current pandemic.
As the World Health Organization's technical lead of COVID-19 Maria Van Kerkhove cautioned this week, its chronic impacts have become profoundly concerning.
"While community transmission was expected post vaccines and re-opening, it has proven very costly not to focus on reducing community transmission using sustainable means and effective messaging," Professor Crabb said.
"To deal with current pandemics, and to be ready for future pandemics, we need to pay close attention to passive controls, especially strategies to promote clean indoor air, and learn how to better engage at-risk communities, rather than focusing solely on active controls including testing, vaccines and treatments, crucial as they are."
"We'll know we're ready for the next pandemic when we've adequately dealt with this one. We haven't reached that point yet."
Read Burnet’s submission to the Commonwealth Government’s COVID-19 Response Inquiry and supporting documents.