An emergency doctor’s message to Victorians from the COVID-19 frontline

An emergency doctor working on the frontline in the battle against COVID-19 has urged Victorians to get vaccinated.

Senior emergency physician at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Dr Emma West, says the more people that get vaccinated, the more time health workers have to spend with other patients who need their help.

“The message is that if you get vaccinated you’re not going to have severe disease and you’re not going to need to come and see me,” she told Neil Mitchell.

“If you don’t have severe disease that means you don’t need me and then I can get on and do that care for the rest of the community, the people who have no choice … the young mums with breast cancer, the people with broken bones.”

Dr West says young people are wrong if they think there’s no need for them to rush to get vaccinated.

“We’re seeing young people again who are requiring intensive care … they can’t breathe,” she said.

“Normally we breathe at a rate of say 14 to 16 breaths a minute and if you’ve got COVID you might be breathing at 40 to 50 breaths a minute. It’s awful.”

Press PLAY below to hear Dr West’s message to Victorians 

Image: Nine / 60 Minutes