Health Translation Queensland acknowledges and thanks those people on the frontline who are treating patients in our health system each and every day, as well as the clinical staff in research teams investigating the virus, best treatments and vaccines.
For the most up to date information about COVID-19, please visit the Queensland Health website.
This is a joint statement that reflects the shared views of all state and territory Departments of Health, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Clinical Trials Project Reference Group, of which all of these entities are members.
These resources are up-to-date as at 6 May 2020.
Strategic commentary
Frank Gannon, former CEO of QIMR Berghofer and now strategic advisor to Health Translation Queensland, provides his reflections on the emerging COVID situation.
It is a simple if not simplistic scenario: A patient with COVID-19 recovers to full health. The virus has evoked an immune response. A blood donation from the cured patient provides the plasma in which the antibodies are present. The plasma is treated to remove any unwanted contaminants (remember the HIV and Hepatitis infections from transfusions?). The plasma is then diluted and transferred to a seriously ill COVID-19 patient. Based on the assumption that the antibodies not only were a response to COVID-19 but were also the reason the cured person survived, the hope and expectation are that the cured person’s donation will provide a cure.
Click here for Frank’s full blog.
I do not watch many science fiction films; the reality is challenging enough. However, I recall the film Gattaca which I enjoyed almost 20 years ago. In it, the hero wanted to be an astronaut. He had a genetic defect that made him ineligible. He had to place his finger on a device to gain entry of the facility. The device instantly sequenced his DNA. He faked the material that was sampled and got to go to outer space. Today, we need a Gattaca-type device to define our COVID-19 status instantly before we go to work, fly, attend a sports event or live normally. It could be standard in our future; as ordinary as showing our ID or having a PIN for our credit card. Will it happen?
Click here for Frank’s full blog.
Many of us would have been at or seen a protest march, where the anthem was, “What do we want? XXX. When do we want it? NOW”. In the context of COVID-19, XXX worldwide is more than a single word. It is a list that includes rapid accurate tests, a pill that would kill the virus, and a vaccine that would mean we could all go about our business as usual. In parallel, as the numbers reduce in some regions, there is a growth in the impatience to abandon any caution and get things going again. Simultaneously, some countries still do not have enough PPE, reagents for assays, or Intensive Care Units to ensure that cruel triaging does not have to take place. On a global scale, there are a lot of things that we want.
Click here for Frank’s full blog.
I have a friend who is a cynic. We were talking about the positive mentions by Dr Anthony Fauci about remdesivir from Gilead as the treatment of choice of COVID-19. He said that every time he hears the word “breakthrough”, he thinks “share price”. A check on the past six months shows that Gilead’s share price was hovering around US$65 until it jumped to approximately US$80 at the end of February, soon after COVID-19 was recognised as a pandemic in need of a treatment.
Click here for Frank’s full blog.
Recently, I wrote a quite confident blog (COVID 19-How are we doing) that looked at COVID-19 trends in different countries. As I have lived in and have family and friends in different countries, I was following the various national announcements. Generally, the authorities were positive. Given the extent of self-interest in making such pronouncements; I was interested to compare how countries were doing in controlling the pandemic.
Click here for Frank’s full blog.
A million years ago, last year, every Saturday afternoon was a time to get the soccer results. A TV voice saying “Leicester City (one of my teams) 0, Manchester City 1,” would be upsetting. Now, football and other sports are suspended, but we still get results…daily. These COVID results are not numbers, they are people, and devastating is not the word to describe the pain behind them. There are no winners.
Click here for Frank’s full blog.
BDHP (now Health Translation Queensland) hosted a series of roundtable discussions in 2020 to support the coordination of research efforts for COVID-19 and leverage the resources of our research and health services partners.
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Health Translation Queensland acknowledges the Traditional Owners and their custodianship of the lands on which we live, work, and play. We pay our respects to their Ancestors and their Descendants, who continue cultural and spiritual connections to Country. We recognise their valuable contributions to Australian and global society.
