24 October

These are neutralisation assays, tests done to show how our antibodies (the main part of our immune systems that fight infection) respond to different viruses. These are people who have had 3 doses of vaccine, and a Covid infection, what politicians are calling ‘hybrid immunity’ and the strategy we’re using to end the pandemic. The different Covid variants are along the bottom axis. The most recent ones are on the right (BA.2.75.2, BQ.1, BQ.1.1 and XBB). The coloured dots show where antibodies were produced i.e. our immune system fought the virus. As you can see after 1 month (top graph), for the latest variants there’s hardly any immunity at all. After 7.5 months (bottom graph), immunity is zero. Most Australians are approaching or past 7-8 months since their last vaccination and/or infection. Many have only had 2 shots, let alone 3. We’re heading into Christmas almost completely unprotected. There are no plans to do anything about it.