Why an epidemiologist thinks Australia is in the ‘most vulnerable’ period of the entire pandemic

An epidemiologist says Australia is currently more vulnerable than it has been at any time during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Epidemiologist at the Burnet Institute, Professor Michael Toole, says we “need to get through winter”, and urged Australians to get vaccinated.

“Personally, I would recommend for anyone of any age to get AstraZeneca,” he told Neil Mitchell.

“We can’t all afford to wait until we get the ideal vaccine because in the meantime we’re going to have these outbreaks. Our quarantine system is just not holding up.

“This is the period, I think, we’re most vulnerable of the whole pandemic because we have a low vaccination rate, we have a quarantine system that is not perfect and we have this variant which spreads very quickly.”

Professor Toole also weighed in on when it’ll be safe to ease Victoria’s lockdown.

“The five-day average in Victoria is 13,” he said.

“I’d like to see that figure get down to five before we ease restrictions … I would expect somewhere between seven and 10 days lockdown in total.”

Press PLAY below to hear more on why this is Australia’s most vulnerable time + when it’ll be safe to ease lockdown