2021 in Review

February

Biotech executive Jennifer Barnes joined Burnet Institute in February as the inaugural Director of the Burnet Diagnostics Initiative (BDI). 

“Before COVID-19, diagnostics was an undervalued science. The world now appreciates the need for fast, affordable diagnostic tests, and Burnet Institute is well placed to capitalise on this realisation,” Ms Barnes said.

BDI brings together a multidisciplinary team that builds on Burnet’s capacity for engagement in the point-of-care In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) industry and proven track record in diagnostic development focused on unmet health needs.

Also in February, Professor Mike Toole welcomed the commencement of the COVID-19 vaccination rollout for Australia’s priority groups as an important initiative to enable people to take action to protect themselves, their families and the community from the global pandemic.

Professor Toole, Technical Advisor for Burnet’s Know-C19 Hub, said the robust review processes of the Therapeutic Goods Administration meant Australians could be confident that approved vaccines would meet strict safety and efficacy criteria.

April

Burnet Director and CEO Professor Brendan Crabb told ABC Radio’s PM program that vaccine rollouts should focus on the Asia-Pacific region to prevent the virus spreading rapidly overseas and threatening Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine programs.

It was a view shared by America’s top COVID adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci while presenting the University of NSW’s inaugural David Cooper Lecture, and came as the US administered a record 4.6 million vaccines in a single day. 

Professor Crabb said that while there were problems with Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout there was no immediate health threat domestically, and Australia had a responsibility to assist other countries to suppress the virus.

Shame and stigma are preventing young Australians and key community groups from deciding to be tested for COVID-19 in situations where testing is warranted, new collaborative research led by Burnet Institute found.

Ninety-three per cent of participants in the Optimise Study reported symptoms but did not test on at least one occasion during follow-up. “Rear, anxiety and stigma played a prominent role in their decision to get a test and were identified as common barriers for very different groups,” Dr Alisa Pedrana, Burnet Senior Research Fellow, said.

Professor Crabb described a new malaria vaccine produced by Oxford University as a potential game-changer.

The vaccine proved 77 per cent effective in early trials against a disease that kills 400,000 people annually, mainly children.

“The holy grail is a vaccine that’s cheap and effective and highly available, and we just might have it. It’s a very big discovery announced by Oxford,” Professor Crabb told ABC Radio Sydney.

Burnet Institute’s Dr Julie Hennegan was part of a collaboration of experts who developed a definition of menstrual health to provide clarity, a common language, and unity in support of menstrual needs globally.

The definition fills a significant gap in research, policy and practice across a broad range of disciplines including women’s health, human rights, gender studies, education, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and sexual and reproductive health.

Published in the journal, Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, menstrual health is defined as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in relation to the menstrual cycle.”

The definition emphasises that whilst the majority of those who experience a menstrual cycle are women and girls, menstrual health is essential for all those who experience a menstrual cycle, regardless of their gender identity and the context in which they live.

June

Professor Mike Toole outlined the disparity in vaccinating the world’s population in his latest COVID-19 Global Update, explaining that globally two billion doses of vaccine had been given, but Africa was being left behind. 

As of 4 June, more than 2 billion doses of vaccine had been administered, which is equivalent to 26 per cent of the world’s population. In sub-saharan Africa, however, the highest rate was around three per cent in Botswana.

Professor Toole called for the vaccine rollout to have a greater focus on countries like India and the rest of South Asia and South America.

The North Richmond Medically Supervised Injecting Room (MSIR) is fulfilling its brief and playing a constructive role by attracting people who are most at risk from harm relating to their injecting drug use, and most in need of the service, according to a new Burnet study.

Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the study involved participants in Burnet’s SuperMIX study – the largest cohort study of people who inject drugs ever conducted in Australia.

Among the findings, people at heightened risk of overdose – including people who might otherwise inject alone or in public – were more likely to use the MSIR, suggesting a potentially significant benefit in preventing overdose mortality.

New modelling developed by Burnet Institute highlighted the need to preserve public health measures as a key line of defence against COVID-19 even with high vaccination coverage.

It estimated more than 4,800 Victorians could die from the virus within 12 months if it were to spread or ‘left to run’ without a public health response.

The COVASIM mathematical modelling also suggested Australia is unlikely to achieve herd immunity with current levels of vaccine hesitancy and the higher infectiousness of new variants.

Burnet Institute Principal Research Fellow and Co-Head of the Global Women’s and Newborn’s Health Group, Associate Professor Joshua Vogel, was acknowledged for his leadership and excellence in research with two prestigious awards at the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Research Excellence Awards.

Associate Professor Vogel was presented with the 2020 NHMRC Peter Doherty Investigator Grant Award (Emerging Leadership), and the 2021 Commonwealth Health Minister’s Award for Excellence in Health and Medical Research, 

Associate Professor Vogel’s Investigator Grant will support his team’s research work to improve health outcomes of preterm newborns in low- and middle-income countries.