Q and A with Dr Barbara Nattabi, an expert on the epidemiology of communicable diseases and senior lecturer at The University of Western Australia’s School of Population and Global Health
While the COVID vaccine protects an individual from severe disease, it is not until the community bands together and reaches a mass vaccination coverage of at least 75 per cent that it becomes a powerful weapon with the potential to prevent resurgence of COVID cases, says Dr Barbara Nattabi,senior lecturer at The University of Western Australia’s School of Population and Global Health.
“When the borders open again to overseas travel, we are going to be in a situation where we will be exposed to much more infection and if we have mass vaccination then Australia will be in a much better position to cope.”
Dr Barbara Nattabi
“Vaccination is not just about you as an individual, it is about protecting each other and the Australian population as a whole,” she said.
“When the borders open again to overseas travel, we are going to be in a situation where we will be exposed to much more infection and if we have mass vaccination then Australia will be in a much better position to cope.
“So when you are deciding if you will have the free COVID vaccine offered by the Australian Government, ask yourself this question – ‘Do we want to go back to the same situation we were in, in March last year, before the borders closed?’.
“If we do get this 75 per cent vaccination…
