'God help us': Chilling warning from NSW Chief Health Officer

With hope that Australia has begun to turn the tide against coronavirus,  with the success of vaccination, the NSW Chief Health Officer has warned of future threats.

Australians could be wearing masks indoors for years according to one of the nation’s chief medical officers and she has warned it’s a case of “God help us” if a new Covid-19 variant emerges.

New South Wales chief health officer Kerry Chant has warned that the modelling that predicts deaths can be kept to a minimum when a majority of adults are vaccinated is based on the assumption that some measures remain in place. She is refering to Doherty Institute’s recommendations for 80 per cent of the population over 16 to be fully vaccinated before Australia can finally end lockdowns and border closures.

But as NSW reached six million doses of vaccine, which is almost a week ahead of target, NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant told reporters even with 80 per cent vaccinated authorities will still have to “calibrate” and modify restrictions on the go.

“It may be that we actually have indoor mask-wearing for years in certain settings,” Dr Chant said.

“We may have factors that you’re only permitted to go to certain high risk venues if you’re vaccinated and show proof of vaccination.

“The world is grappling with how we coexist with Covid and the virus may throw us curve balls. We have got the Delta variant. God help us if we have another variant. This is not a one-size-fits all.”

Experts have been urging wealthy countries to do more to supply vaccines to poorer countries as the longer they go unvaccinated, the more likely a worse variant could emerge. 

Swiss Immunologist Dr Sai Reddy said leaders "have to prepare" for a new emerging variant in 2022 that could pose a "big risk".

Covid-22, as he dubbed it, "could get worse than what we are witnessing now".

The head of The World Health Organisation Dr Tedros Adhanom told reporters overnight he wants countries to delay booster shots until poorer countries with lower vaccination rates can become protected.

"I call for a moratorium of boosters, the position that we have is to delay the use of boosters, and there is actually debate, and no consensus on whether boosters are really effective," he said.