Vaccinations for flu are almost three times more popular than those for Covid, despite the exact same group being most at risk. Cushla Norman speaks to medical experts about the state of Covid in New Zealand now, who's most at risk and why many of us no longer take the virus as seriously as we should.
Covid: 'New variants popping up all the time' – Watch this story on TVNZ+.
Nearly three times more flu jabs have been delivered this year than the Covid booster, a reflection of “confusion in our community” around who really needs the Covid jab, says an immunisation expert.
Te Whatu Ora figures show 1,224,711 flu doses have been administered compared to 462,471 for the Covid booster. The figures cover the year until mid-September.
“It's very disappointing, because particularly adults who are at risk of severe flu are also at risk of severe Covid. So, I think there's a lot of confusion in our community as to when and how they should have Covid vaccines,” said Dr Nikki Turner, principal medical adviser with the immunisation advisory centre.
Turner said there are three main reasons people are not getting the Covid booster.
“Firstly, people are a bit over Covid. They're fed up with it. Secondly, the story's evolved. The Covid virus has evolved, and many people are unaware that it's still a problem. And thirdly, I think it hasn't been well communicated in New Zealand and internationally who's at high risk of Covid right now this year.”
Who's most at risk of Covid now?
Turner said there shouldn’t be such a huge disparity in the numbers getting the flu vaccine and Covid booster because the same groups are the most at risk.
“They are people that have significant medical problems, concerns about their immune systems, and frail elderly. So, they're really the same groups, so the numbers should be similar.”
Dr Turner said there’s talk of combination vaccines that would combine flu and Covid together in one jab, but it’s still a year or two away.
“And when we do, in the New Zealand market, get the combination vaccine, we'll ensure that we get ones that have gone through all the proper, proper safety profiles. We haven't got it yet. It's still coming.”
Covid fatalities still a reality in NZ
In the past week, six people died of Covid and as of last Sunday night 34 people were in hospital with Covid.
Since Omicron arrived in early 2022, the number of cases has followed a series of peaks and troughs, reaching relatively low levels in the past year.
Covid-19 modeller Michael Plank says the waves of infection are getting smaller each year.
“It's due to increasing levels of immunity in the population. Not only have most people been vaccinated, but most people have had Covid once, if not more than once. That provides a level of immunity that makes it harder for the virus to spread.”
He says it’s unlikely the virus will die out.
“What's more likely to happen is we'll reach a sort of an equilibrium where the virus is continuing to mutate. It's not having probably a huge impact in the way that it did during the pandemic, but it's continuing to sort of mutate, which allows it to cause smaller waves from time to time.”
A mutating virus means new variants
“New variants are popping up all the time, but a lot of them don't actually have much of an impact, and so we don't really notice their effect very much,” said Plank.
“It's only when we get a variant that's able to spread significantly faster than existing variants that we sort of potentially see a wave being caused by that new variant.”
When a new variant arrives, PHF Science, formerly ESR, is the first to pick it up through wastewater testing and samples from patients.
The last significant variant that emerged in New Zealand was in late March. It’s called Nimbus.
Another variant scientists are keeping their eye on is Stratus, also known as XFG.
“Both Nimbus and XFG have the potential to evade the immune response, and so that and waning immunity can cause an increase in cases. Neither of these viruses, or indeed any of these viri that we're seeing cause more severe disease,” said Joanne Hewitt, a science leader at PHF Science.
She said there’s no evidence to suggest anything is changing in terms of the severity of the disease.
“It'll be forever evolving and changing, and it's something that we’ll just have to keep our eye on over time.”
Covid: 'New variants popping up all the time' – Watch this story on TVNZ+.
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