COVID Indicator That Rates Risk from the Virus

ABC News announced a new online calculator in pilot phase on October 25, 2021. The software by University of Queensland, Australia hopes to help people reach informed vaccination decisions. After taking their personal circumstances, and likelihood of infection in terms of transmission scenarios into account. This seems so obvious we wonder why we never thought of a COVID indicator that rates risk from the virus before.

You Can Assess Your Risks Compared to Winning Lotto

University of Queensland virologist Kirsty Short believes the data that governments put out is too big to apply personally. So the software compares the risk of say getting blood clots from Astra Zeneca to being struck by lightning. Or winning the lotto outright. Don’t we all wish the latter!

Now we might wonder how something that decides we don’t need a vaccine could be anything else but irresponsible. However, the COVID indicator that rates risk from the virus is the work of distinguished scientists.

They gathered data from Immunization Coalition, University of Queensland, Flinders University, La Trobe University, and Queensland University of Technology. And they sought advice from epidemiologists, general practitioners, statisticians, medical scientists, and public health physicians too.

Why We Need a COVID Indicator That Rates Risk from the Virus

Virologist Kirsty Short assures ABC News the project is deadly serious. First, her team will continuously update the app with latest health and scientific evidence, including Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines. But their main purpose is to ensure people at high risk – including comorbidities – have their vaccines.

‘I think this is a really important consideration that people need to make, especially for younger individuals,’ she explains. ‘They may not be at high risk of dying if they get COVID-19, but Long COVID is a real threat. And it’s not something that anyone wants to have,’ she says soberly and we agree.