The Global Dashboard for Vaccine Equity developed by the United Nations Development Programme has Australia on par with high income countries, with 56.35 per cent of people having received a first dose. But what about low income countries? Just 2.14 per cent have received a first dose. That’s right – 2.14 per cent.
In this episode Professor Kanta Subbarao joins us to help break down this issue. Kanta is the Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza at the Doherty Institute. A virologist and physician, prior to her role at the Doherty Institute, she was at the helm of the Emerging Respiratory Viruses Section of the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health in the United States, where she worked on the original SARS coronavirus and later, MERS.
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The use of antigen tests has been publicly debated since the beginning of the pandemic. But what is the latest official advise for their use in Australia?
In this episode in our series on COVID-19 the virus, variants and vaccines we are chatting with Professor Deborah Williamson, Clinical Microbiologist, Deputy Director of the Microbiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory at the Doherty Institute and Director of The Royal Melbourne Hospital’s Department of Microbiology.
Deborah has played a major role in Victoria’s Innovative Testing Program, a partnership between the Victorian Government Department of Health and the Doherty Institute. Her team performed the first pilot study of rapid antigen tests in a low prevalence settings across three Melbourne hospitals last year, looking at the sensitivity and specificity of the tests.

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Last week, Doherty Institute Director of Epidemiology, Professor Jodie McVernon joined Prime Minister Scott Morrison in presenting the modelling that underpinned the phases of the Federal Government's COVID Response Plan.
Since the beginning of 2020 Jodie has been advising the Commonwealth Government with a team of gun modellers from around the country on emerging evidence, and pulling together modelling looking at the impact of COVID-19 transmission and vaccines, test, trace, isolate, quarantine or TTIQ public health measures and health system preparedness.
Here she breaks down some of the figures presented to the Government and responds to some criticism of her team's report.

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We welcome back the Patron and Namesake of the Doherty Institute, Laureate Professor Peter Doherty. It’s been a big week for Peter with the launch of his seventh lay book, , published by Melbourne University Press. As the title suggests, Peter recounts his experience and inner workings of the Doherty Institute throughout the first year of COVID-19. In addition, it’s a compilation of his weekly columns he wrote for the Doherty Institute website up to edition 42.An Insider’s Plague YearSetting it Straight

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In this episode in our series on COVID-19 the virus, variants and vaccines we are chatting with Professor Kirsty Buising, Royal Melbourne Hospital Infectious Diseases Physician and co-lead of the Antimicrobial Resistance and Hospital Acquired Infections Theme at the Doherty Institute.
Last year, she was at the centre of the Royal Melbourne Hospital’s response to the rising COVID-19 infections in healthcare workers. She and her team scrutinised wards to try and identify and close any gaps that may have been allowing the virus to spread so freely.
One of the aspects they looked at closely was airflow, and examined the impact of portable air cleaners, known as air scrubbers on aerosol clearance.

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This week, we published the Doherty Institute’s 2020 Impact Report, which highlights our research, clinical, public health and teaching successes throughout the year and provides insight into the experiences of some of our staff, in their own words.
The Doherty Institute was, and continues to be, at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic response. From clinicians treating patients in hospitals; scientists continuing to perform tests on suspected cases and viral genomic sequencing; epidemiologists working closely with the State and Commonwealth Governments on policy; and researchers working on antibody tests, treatments and vaccines.
In addition to pivoting to COVID-19 research, much of our infection and immunity work continued throughout 2020 under trying circumstances, with many of our staff and students required to work and learn from home under public health orders.
In this bonus episode of our series all about COVID-19 – the virus, variants and vaccines, Melbourne Laureate Professor Sharon Lewin, Director of the Doherty Institute, joins us to talk about the year we’ll never forget.

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Sonya Pemberton is my guest. Sonya is an Emmy-award winning filmmaker - she won an Emmy Award in 2012 and has won the Eureka Award for Science Journalist a record five times.
Her films include Jabbed – love, fear and vaccines, Vaccine – Calling the Shots, Catching Cancer and Immortal, which won the Emmy Award in 2012 for Outstanding Science Programming.
Her most recent offering, Cracking COVID premieres on ABC TV in Australia on Tuesday 13 July at 8.30pm. It tracks the real-time story of Australia’s scientific response to the pandemic, told by researchers, clinicians, and patients. Doherty Institute experts including Laureate Professor Peter Doherty feature.

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We’re going to take a deep dive into wastewater testing for COVID-19 surveillance – it’s origins, why it’s used and exactly what it can tell us.
Associate Professor Bruce Thorley is our guest – he is the Head of the National Enterovirus Reference Laboratory and the W-H-O Polio Regional Reference Laboratory at the Doherty Institute.
He is Chief Investigator for Australia’s national polio surveillance program – which includes wastewater testing. Bruce is also involved in the COVID-19 wastewater surveillance program here in Victoria, a collaboration with Melbourne Water, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and Monash University.

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How could Australia be better prepared to respond to future pandemics?Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the strongest and most effective in the world. And yet, there are still plenty of lessons to be learned.The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity was the first in the world outside of China to grow the COVID-19 virus in a lab, and share it with laboratories in Australia and around the world. In this live panel discussion, the world-leading science, clinical and public health experts from the Doherty Institute will take a deep dive into Australia’s COVID-19 response to pose the big questions: what lessons have we learned? What could we do differently next time? And, how likely are we to face another pandemic in the future?

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We check in with Laureate Professor Peter Doherty to find out how he's doing through Melbourne's lockdown, whether he made it to Dan Murphy's before it began, what he's binge watching on Netflix, his experience of getting the Astra Zeneca vaccine and participating in clinical trials and a release date for his new book, An Insider's Plague Book.

We want to hear from you! Help us shape future episodes of our podcast by telling us a little about yourself, how you listen to and what you'd like to hear more of in 2022. The survey is anonymous and will only take a few minutes to complete.Infection and Immunity – Evidence Explained

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