1
00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:03,440
Speaker 1: A study this morning shows Australian workers who are living

2
00:00:03,640 --> 00:00:07,240
Speaker 1: with long COVID have cost the economy not their fault,

3
00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:12,120
Speaker 1: but around nine point six billion dollars in twenty twenty two.

4
00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:16,160
Speaker 1: That's the based on the number of lost labor hours

5
00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:19,520
Speaker 1: of Australian adults who are unable to work or were

6
00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:24,079
Speaker 1: first forced to work reduced hours because they experienced ongoing

7
00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:28,160
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen symptoms for up to twelve months after their

8
00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:33,600
Speaker 1: initial diagnosis. That's astounding nine point six billion dollars lost

9
00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:36,920
Speaker 1: to the economy on average in twenty twenty two as

10
00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:40,680
Speaker 1: a result of long COVID. Professor Quentin Grafton, Professor of

11
00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:44,080
Speaker 1: Economics at Australian National Union on the line, Quentin, good morning.

12
00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:46,680
Speaker 2: Hi'm Matthew, and good morning to your listeners.

13
00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:48,600
Speaker 1: Thank you for your time. This is quite a figure,

14
00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:53,680
Speaker 1: isn't it. And you just wonder where where that ends

15
00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:56,840
Speaker 1: up when you think about the need for employment ment

16
00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:00,440
Speaker 1: at the moment for workers, and then there's this group

17
00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:03,320
Speaker 1: of workers, this cohort who are just unable to contribute.

18
00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:08,480
Speaker 2: Yes, it's very sad for them and especially for those

19
00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:10,839
Speaker 2: who are not able to work for more than twelve months.

20
00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:14,039
Speaker 2: I mean, it's a huge impact on them both health wise,

21
00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:19,200
Speaker 2: socially and of course economically. And the reason why there

22
00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:21,800
Speaker 2: were so many people with long COVID is because most

23
00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:25,520
Speaker 2: of Australians have had COVID, and quite many have also

24
00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:28,560
Speaker 2: had it more than once. And although most people will

25
00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:32,600
Speaker 2: cover a high proportion will cover successfully, there is a

26
00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:35,160
Speaker 2: small proportion of don't. But that small proportion for an

27
00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:38,720
Speaker 2: entire population ends up with some very large numbers, hundreds

28
00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:41,360
Speaker 2: of thousands of people. And then of those hundreds of

29
00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:44,000
Speaker 2: thousands with long COVID, there's a certain abortion to have

30
00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:46,559
Speaker 2: it severe enough, but they can't work, or they can't

31
00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:48,720
Speaker 2: work four hours, they can only work part hours. So

32
00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:52,320
Speaker 2: that's that's the big impact. And you highlighted it that

33
00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:55,240
Speaker 2: the number of medium number we have is about ten

34
00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:58,240
Speaker 2: billion dollars in twenty twenty two, and that works out

35
00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:00,800
Speaker 2: to a little less than four hundred dollars Australian man,

36
00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:04,000
Speaker 2: woman and child. So that's a big number and it's

37
00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:06,800
Speaker 2: a number that is continuing. I don't know what it

38
00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:08,840
Speaker 2: is in twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four because we

39
00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:12,160
Speaker 2: haven't done the modeling for that, but it's still a

40
00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:15,560
Speaker 2: big number. Simply because we know that COVID is continuing

41
00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:18,560
Speaker 2: In Australian twenty twenty four, people are continuing to get

42
00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:21,880
Speaker 2: long COVID, and therefore there's an impact on those people.

43
00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:25,440
Speaker 1: And the more times you get COVID, the more higher

44
00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:28,160
Speaker 1: the chance of long COVID, as I understand it from

45
00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:32,080
Speaker 1: speaking to a COVID researcher on air recently, that's right.

46
00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:34,000
Speaker 2: And sooner you can speak to my co authors who

47
00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:36,639
Speaker 2: are public health professionals. But yes, that's what the literature

48
00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:41,440
Speaker 2: indicates that having COVID multiple times it will increase your

49
00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:43,640
Speaker 2: chance we're getting long COVID. On the other hand, there

50
00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:45,760
Speaker 2: are things that you can do to reduce your chances

51
00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:48,440
Speaker 2: we're getting long COVID if you get COVID. One of

52
00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:53,040
Speaker 2: them is vaccinations, so boosters, regular boosters appear to reduce

53
00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:56,280
Speaker 2: your you're probably getting long COVID. And of course the

54
00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:58,280
Speaker 2: best thing of all is not to get COVID. You

55
00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:00,640
Speaker 2: don't get COVID, you won't get long COVID. And so

56
00:03:00,760 --> 00:03:03,480
Speaker 2: you know there would measures sensible measures like wearing masks

57
00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:07,120
Speaker 2: and health care facilities and improving indoor air quality that

58
00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:10,520
Speaker 2: will actually reduce the chances of getting COVID and therefore

59
00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:13,160
Speaker 2: long COVID. And then there are other things that we

60
00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:15,280
Speaker 2: can do, especially for those who are hurting in the

61
00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:18,160
Speaker 2: sense they can't work because of their symptoms, we can

62
00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:22,320
Speaker 2: provide a disability benefit for them, maybe some inn house

63
00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:27,200
Speaker 2: health care, a number of things like that can be done.

64
00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:30,480
Speaker 2: So yeah, so it's a big problem. It's a problem

65
00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:32,400
Speaker 2: that we can respond to. It's a problem we can

66
00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:35,840
Speaker 2: do much better amp And you know, from the dollars

67
00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:39,480
Speaker 2: and sense of it benefits versus costs, the cost as

68
00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:42,120
Speaker 2: you highlight it, are around ten billion dollars in twenty

69
00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:45,520
Speaker 2: twenty two, but the cost of actually doing something about

70
00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:48,120
Speaker 2: it are much less than ten billion dollars with very

71
00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:51,000
Speaker 2: sensible precautions. So that's what we should be doing. We

72
00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:54,640
Speaker 2: should be doing. It's a no brainer. Basically, Why have

73
00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:59,520
Speaker 2: Australians stuffered with long COVID, Why have the economy incur

74
00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:02,840
Speaker 2: these long Why not do something? Let's be proactive, let's

75
00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:05,240
Speaker 2: be you know, let's use the evidence in front of

76
00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:09,080
Speaker 2: us and acts, not just pretend that something is not

77
00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:10,200
Speaker 2: happening when a fact it is.

78
00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:14,560
Speaker 1: Indeed, would modeling okay, you say the modeling's not in

79
00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:17,120
Speaker 1: for twenty three, twenty four, and obviously twenty four has

80
00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:20,160
Speaker 1: got a way to go yet. But given since twenty

81
00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:25,719
Speaker 1: two the severity of COVID itself has decreased, it's you know,

82
00:04:25,839 --> 00:04:30,400
Speaker 1: mutated to a less mostly less severe strain. Whatever mark

83
00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:32,440
Speaker 1: we're up to now, mark one hundred and fifty or

84
00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:39,000
Speaker 1: whatever COVID strain we're into, does that improve long COVID

85
00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,520
Speaker 1: in any way or the symptoms less as a result

86
00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:41,840
Speaker 1: of that.

87
00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:45,120
Speaker 2: Look, there's a number of factors that play here. So

88
00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:48,720
Speaker 2: depending which way when someone got COVID, whether it was

89
00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:52,159
Speaker 2: the Delta wave or the Iegal way, that determines the

90
00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:55,520
Speaker 2: likelihood of getting long COVID. So you're right, most people

91
00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:58,080
Speaker 2: have already had COVID, Most people have been vaccinated to

92
00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:00,960
Speaker 2: some extent, so the severity of symptoms is less than

93
00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:04,039
Speaker 2: it was let's say in twenty twenties when people got COVID.

94
00:05:04,279 --> 00:05:06,880
Speaker 2: So no, no question about that, and that does help.

95
00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:10,320
Speaker 2: But the challenge we face in Australia, indeed it's a

96
00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:15,640
Speaker 2: global challenge, is that COVID is widespread, so lots of

97
00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:17,880
Speaker 2: people are getting it and getting it again and again.

98
00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:21,320
Speaker 2: So that's the problem. Even though the symptoms aren't severe

99
00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:24,080
Speaker 2: you can still get long COVID even from what so

100
00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:28,120
Speaker 2: called mile symptoms. And that is essentially what's happened to

101
00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:31,400
Speaker 2: the people who are in the working age population. The

102
00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:35,160
Speaker 2: most people who are getting COVID in the working age population.

103
00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:38,640
Speaker 2: I'm not talking about vulnerable people here. They're ending up.

104
00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:42,840
Speaker 2: They were most cover but proportion that don't they ending

105
00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:45,160
Speaker 2: up with long COVID even though they had mild COVID.

106
00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:47,600
Speaker 2: So these people one hundreds of thousands of people were

107
00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:51,520
Speaker 2: talking about potentially didn't end up in hospital. Only a

108
00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:53,760
Speaker 2: tiny to only fraction who ended up in hospital was

109
00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:56,760
Speaker 2: to their symptoms. Most of them had mile symptoms in

110
00:05:56,839 --> 00:05:59,960
Speaker 2: the sense that they stayed at home, you know, managed

111
00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:02,880
Speaker 2: to deal with it with COVID at the time. The

112
00:06:02,960 --> 00:06:06,280
Speaker 2: problem is that they ended up subsequently with this long

113
00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:09,600
Speaker 2: COVID and that's the problem and that's the challenge. And

114
00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:14,320
Speaker 2: ongoing infection is increasing the chances it seems, that's what

115
00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:16,960
Speaker 2: the literature tells us of getting long COVID. So it's

116
00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:20,599
Speaker 2: not something we want to continue, and we want to

117
00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:25,200
Speaker 2: do whatever we can, you know, that's sensible to stop that.

118
00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:28,120
Speaker 2: And I've highlighted in a marketing and health care facility

119
00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:31,320
Speaker 2: or our quality. Those are all sensible things to do.

120
00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:35,320
Speaker 2: They're not hard to do, they're not costly actions, and

121
00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:38,680
Speaker 2: yet they are much less the costs that we're incurring

122
00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:39,160
Speaker 2: right now.

123
00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:41,159
Speaker 1: Quentin, I don't know if this is in your remit

124
00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:43,960
Speaker 1: as an economist, but Tom is asking an excellent question

125
00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:46,159
Speaker 1: on the text line, can you please ask? He says,

126
00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:48,640
Speaker 1: is there a test for long COVID? A blood test?

127
00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:49,200
Speaker 1: All similar?

128
00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:55,000
Speaker 2: There are some tests, yes, so basically long COVID was

129
00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:58,160
Speaker 2: defined in twenty twenty based on patients who ended up

130
00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:01,520
Speaker 2: with these post bile syndrome and a whole range of

131
00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:04,880
Speaker 2: different things around it. Yes, there are tests for certain symptoms,

132
00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:08,760
Speaker 2: but in terms of you know, you know, particular blood test,

133
00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:11,480
Speaker 2: here it is, and this is what you've got, and

134
00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:14,640
Speaker 2: here's the precise way, and my understanding of the answers

135
00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:18,320
Speaker 2: not But again for Tom, please pass that question onto

136
00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:21,320
Speaker 2: a public health professional and to my colleagues like Rayna

137
00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:24,520
Speaker 2: McIntyre who is an MD and a public health professional

138
00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:26,360
Speaker 2: and a co author in our works. But should be

139
00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:30,320
Speaker 2: the best person to answer that. But there are multiple

140
00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:33,200
Speaker 2: symptoms and there are multiple ways trying to diagnose that.

141
00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:36,800
Speaker 2: But of course it's it's patients themselves suffering from you know,

142
00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:40,200
Speaker 2: those ongoing symptoms can tell you know, whether it's brain fog,

143
00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:45,200
Speaker 2: whether it's fatigue, and even symptoms that aren't immediately obvious

144
00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:51,600
Speaker 2: to a patient issues in terms of the vascular system.

145
00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:53,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right. I mean we don't know the internal harm,

146
00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:55,000
Speaker 1: do we until something happens.

147
00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:55,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right.

148
00:07:56,040 --> 00:07:59,960
Speaker 1: Yeah. The employers in all of this are people under

149
00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:02,920
Speaker 1: standing of long COVID do you think in your study

150
00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:05,360
Speaker 1: here with I mean you've looked at the economic analysis

151
00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:08,520
Speaker 1: analysis of it. So where do employers stand with it?

152
00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:14,360
Speaker 2: Look, I think a lot of employers have been cognizant

153
00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:17,160
Speaker 2: that their workforce, you know, I'm talking from you know,

154
00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:20,680
Speaker 2: from from twenty twenty one on, been cognizant that that

155
00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:25,040
Speaker 2: there are problems in the workforce. And so what those

156
00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:28,000
Speaker 2: employers who are able to have some of their employees

157
00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:31,000
Speaker 2: at least work from home has provided I think an

158
00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:33,840
Speaker 2: opportunity for some people to be able to continue in employment,

159
00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:36,560
Speaker 2: you know, with the duetowns perhaps that they wouldn't all

160
00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:39,160
Speaker 2: I being able to do. In other words, if you've

161
00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:42,600
Speaker 2: got fatigue issues getting on the bus traveling an hour,

162
00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:46,160
Speaker 2: you know, that's obviously fatiguing for you. If you're able

163
00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:48,040
Speaker 2: to work from home and do some work from home,

164
00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:51,400
Speaker 2: and that's that's a that's a big opportunity plus for you.

165
00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:53,960
Speaker 2: But again it depends on the nature of the job.

166
00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:57,400
Speaker 2: If you if you know a construction worker, you've got

167
00:08:57,440 --> 00:08:59,240
Speaker 2: to be there. You've got to be there in person,

168
00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:01,800
Speaker 2: and you've got to be they are physically physically strong

169
00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:04,480
Speaker 2: enough to do the job. So those sorts of people

170
00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:08,160
Speaker 2: that's what they were doing and they've got severe symptoms,

171
00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:10,560
Speaker 2: they can't do that job. They have to look for

172
00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:13,520
Speaker 2: another job that allows them, you know, not to be

173
00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:17,079
Speaker 2: so physically active. So there's a range of people who

174
00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:19,680
Speaker 2: are suffering, you know, whether it's a nurse or whether

175
00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:22,800
Speaker 2: it's a construction work or whatever it might be. There's

176
00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:26,480
Speaker 2: a whole bunch of different people, of course, all sorts

177
00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:29,560
Speaker 2: of types of employment. Some employees, as said, have been

178
00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:32,080
Speaker 2: able to be more flexible than others, just they can't.

179
00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:35,079
Speaker 2: The nature of the work is there's not much they

180
00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:37,640
Speaker 2: can really need someone to be there in person and

181
00:09:37,679 --> 00:09:39,320
Speaker 2: physically strong enough to do the job.

182
00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:42,240
Speaker 1: It's a big hit to the economy. Nevertheless, you know,

183
00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:46,600
Speaker 1: almost ten billion dollars, I don't know does that reflect

184
00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:51,200
Speaker 1: in the RBA's decisions on interest rates, I mean, does

185
00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:54,199
Speaker 1: it come down to that, Is it as important as

186
00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:56,280
Speaker 1: that this huge loss of manpower.

187
00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:00,559
Speaker 2: Yeah, look it is big. I mean that been bigger

188
00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:03,840
Speaker 2: hits we've faced in the Australian economy, obviously the Great

189
00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:06,319
Speaker 2: Financial Crisis of two thousand and eight and of course

190
00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:10,959
Speaker 2: the actual COVID impact, not colon COVID, COVID impact of

191
00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:13,520
Speaker 2: twenty twenty with the lockdown, so those are much bigger.

192
00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:16,199
Speaker 2: But this is a big hit and of course it

193
00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:20,000
Speaker 2: can feed into and certain evidence in other places that

194
00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:25,040
Speaker 2: you know, would labor supply and supply chain disruptions as well,

195
00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:28,000
Speaker 2: that you know, you that has an impact on potentially

196
00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:30,920
Speaker 2: on inflation. And the thing that Australia has been doing

197
00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:35,360
Speaker 2: and has done quite a lot of is of course

198
00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:39,400
Speaker 2: have immigration, so bringing in healthy workers as a way

199
00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:44,080
Speaker 2: of overcoming this problem from domestic workers who who are

200
00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:47,320
Speaker 2: ill with with long COVID, and certainly that's been part

201
00:10:47,320 --> 00:10:52,840
Speaker 2: of the response in that sense, although that you know,

202
00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:56,240
Speaker 2: that has pluses and minuses in the context of inflation.

203
00:10:56,600 --> 00:10:59,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, it must be difficult for people to come to

204
00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:03,240
Speaker 1: terms with some degree to be diagnosed with long COVID because,

205
00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:06,720
Speaker 1: as I understand that quentin, a RATS test at the

206
00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:10,359
Speaker 1: start will show your positive when you can track the symptoms,

207
00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:14,480
Speaker 1: but long COVID doesn't necessarily show up as positive, does it.

208
00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:18,400
Speaker 2: No. No, So most almost all people who end up

209
00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:21,400
Speaker 2: with long COVID, they won't be testing positive for the

210
00:11:21,480 --> 00:11:25,559
Speaker 2: RATS test or any other tests, so the virus doesn't

211
00:11:25,559 --> 00:11:30,240
Speaker 2: appear to be there at least in any discernible level.

212
00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:35,839
Speaker 2: But nevertheless they having ongoing symptoms. So there are a

213
00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:39,079
Speaker 2: range of explanations around that. You obviously best direct that

214
00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:42,439
Speaker 2: to my colleague the public health people, but there's obviously

215
00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:45,960
Speaker 2: immune responses and various other things that'll explained that. And

216
00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:48,240
Speaker 2: in some cases there have been people who have had

217
00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:51,080
Speaker 2: the virus in there for a long period of time.

218
00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:54,640
Speaker 2: But no, most people who add long COVID will not

219
00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:58,960
Speaker 2: be testing positive for the COVID virus at all, but

220
00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:01,120
Speaker 2: they aren't carrying these long term.

221
00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:06,560
Speaker 1: Symptoms and quentin. Regarding long COVID and vaccinations, Karen's asking

222
00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:09,640
Speaker 1: how many unvaccinated people have long COVID. I don't know

223
00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:10,800
Speaker 1: if the research would show that.

224
00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:15,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, not a not in our particular research that was

225
00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:19,800
Speaker 2: published today, But yes, the people who are unvaccinated certainly

226
00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:23,000
Speaker 2: have a higher chance of getting long COVID if they

227
00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:27,320
Speaker 2: get COVID. So so vaccination does help in terms of

228
00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:33,400
Speaker 2: reducing the probability of long COVID and indeed maintaining regular vaccinations.

229
00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:37,280
Speaker 2: So some people are more vulnerable and older in Australia

230
00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:40,960
Speaker 2: can get vaccinations every six months, but for most Australians

231
00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:43,120
Speaker 2: and the working age it's every twelve months as I

232
00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:46,800
Speaker 2: understand it. So making it more available for boosters will

233
00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:50,040
Speaker 2: certainly help. It would certainly reduce the chances of getting

234
00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:52,160
Speaker 2: long COVID in the general population.

235
00:12:52,679 --> 00:12:55,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, there we are, Quentin, appreciate your time. Thank you.

236
00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:57,160
Speaker 2: Oh you're more than welcome. Thank you for the opportunity.

237
00:12:57,240 --> 00:12:58,360
Speaker 2: Thank you listeners as well.

238
00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:02,640
Speaker 1: Professor Quentin Grafton, Feser of Economics at Australia National Uni