Infection and Immunity

We speak with Dr Katherine Gibney, infectious diseases clinician, public health physician and medical epidemiologist about the decision to extend Victoria's lockdown, the latest evidence of the transmissibility and infectiousness of current circulating strains, issues around mandating vaccines in healthcare workers and what it was like being a clinician in 2020.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 ExplainedSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we chat with Dr Jennifer Juno, a Senior Research fellow at the Doherty Institute about what happens to your immune system when vaccinated and when you have recovered from COVID-19.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 ExplainedSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We speak with Professor Terry Nolan, Head of the Vaccine and Immunisation Research Group at the Doherty Institute and Murdoch Children's Research Institute. Terry was also the Head of the Australian Technical Advisory Group for Immunisation for 10 years - so knows vaccines!We discuss the latest data on blood clot cases in Australia, should we be looking at combination schedules of available COVID-19 vaccines and what we know about the Moderna and Novovax vaccines Australia has ordered.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 ExplainedSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s been widely publicised that the variant of SARS-CoV-2 associated with Melbourne’s outbreak is the B.1.617, the so-called ‘Indian’ variant. What do we know about it? Is it more transmissible?We speak with Dr Norelle Sherry, a Medical Microbiologist at the University of Melbourne’s Microbiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory at the Doherty Institute, which is responsible for conducting the genomic sequencing of COVID-19 cases in Victoria in partnership with the Victorian Department of Health.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 ExplainedSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We are taking a step outside of our infection and immunity bubble to talk about mental health. Our guest is Dr Grant Blashki - he is a GP, lead clinical advisor for Beyond Blue and Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne’s Nossal Institute for Global Health.Grant is going to talk through why some of us are feeling this way, some tips to manage our mental well-being and the latest evidence of how the pandemic has impacted mental health in Australia and around the world.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 ExplainedSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We speak with Director of Doherty Epidemiology, Professor Jodie McVernon, picking her brains about what's happening in Melbourne right now - she analyses the types of transmission we are seeing in Melbourne, why we needed the 7-day circuit breaker and her top tip for getting through lockdown.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 ExplainedSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Victorian Government has announced they will commit an additional $245 million to fund the construction of the Australian Institute for Infectious Disease.Headquartered in the prestigious Melbourne Biomedical Precinct, the AIID will bring together an exceptional network of leading researchers, public health experts and clinicians from the University of Melbourne, Burnet Institute, the Doherty Institute and other partnersIn this special bonus episode, we speak with the Director of the Doherty Institute, Professor Sharon Lewin about the new Institute.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 ExplainedSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this special two-part episode, we explore the role of COVID-19 treatments in the pandemic.From the very beginning, vaccines have been touted as the way out. We’ve all watched in real-time as various technologies have been developed, produced, tested and injected into people’s arms around the world.In part 1 we spoke with Associate Professor Steven Tong. An Infectious Diseases Physician at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Co-Lead of the Clinical Research Discipline at the Doherty Institute, Steve is also Lead Investigator of the AustralaSian COVID-19 Trial, or ASCOT.In the part 2 we speak with Professor Vivek Jha who is the Executive Director of the George Institute, responsible for coordinating ASCOT in India. He speaks very candidly about life in India during this disastrous second wave and the importance and challenges of conducting a clinical trial during this time.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 ExplainedSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this special two-part episode, we explore the role of COVID-19 treatments in the pandemic.From the very beginning, vaccines have been touted as the way out. We’ve all watched in real-time as various technologies have been developed, produced, tested and injected into people’s arms around the world.In part 1 we speak with Associate Professor Steven Tong. An Infectious Diseases Physician at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Co-Lead of the Clinical Research Discipline at the Doherty Institute, Steve is also Lead Investigator of the AustralaSian COVID-19 Trial, or ASCOT.Part 2 will look at the Indian experience.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 ExplainedSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australia has seen a waning willingness to accept COVID-19 vaccines, dropping from around 75 per cent late last year to around 60 per cent in February this year. Refusal has increased from 5 to 15 per cent. How do we increase confidence?We speak with vaccine confidence, acceptance and uptake expert, Associate Professor Margie Danchin. Margie is a consultant paediatrician at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital, and a Clinician Scientist at the University of Melbourne and Murdoch Children't Research Institute.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 ExplainedSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.