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Australia’s vaccine rollout has hit a new milestone: 5 million jabs! A record breaking 88,000 Australians were vaccinated on Saturday, with 772,750 vaccinated in the last 6 days. A big thanks to all Australians who are rolling up their sleeves and coming forward to be vaccinated.

Victoria’s outbreak was rocked by a new discovery last week – that the new ‘Delta’ variant, seen most prominently in India, has emerged in Victoria. It’s unclear how the family diagnosed with this variant contracted it. The Delta variant is of concern because it is significantly more infectious.

As of today, all Australians aged 40-49 are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. The preferred vaccine for this age group is the Pfizer vaccine – so what are the side effects of this vaccine?

Starting this week, Australians who have received 2 vaccine doses will be able to access a COVID vaccination certificate. The Australian Immunisation Register will be updated as a part of every Australian’s myGov account and linked with Medicare, allowing people to access a digital certificate. Having evidence of vaccination will be key to relaxing restrictions long term, including border restrictions.

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation has confirmed AstraZeneca as the COVID-19 vaccine of choice for over-50s after a second fatal clotting syndrome occurred. A NSW woman in her 50s developed a severe clotting syndrome, known as thrombosis with thrombocytopenia, after receiving her first AstraZeneca dose. Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly explained, “Our expert group on immunisation has re-looked at that extra information, made that risk-benefit analysis as they did some weeks ago now in relation to AstraZeneca [and] have confirmed that for people over 50 that should be the vaccine of choice.”

A new study published in JAMA Psychiatry has found that going to sleep an hour earlier could lower your risk for major depression by 23%. The study included 840,000 people, including their genetic data, prescription records and medical history. They found that provided the amount of sleep stays the same, sleeping an hour earlier lowered your risk of depression by 23%, and sleeping two hours earlier lower your risk by around 40%.

Throughout the pandemic, neurologists have observed an increase in sleep disturbances, including night terrors and night-time panic attacks. If you’ve ever seen someone suddenly wake up screaming, pale, looking like they’ve seen a ghost, you may have just seen them experience a night terror.

Some medical experts are requesting a review of the recommending age group for the AstraZeneca vaccine following the death of a 52-year-old woman last week from a brain clot. Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) is the condition behind these terrible incidents, and occurs at an extremely low rate of 1.8 cases per 100,000 (first) doses for over 50s getting the AstraZeneca vaccine. Amongst those aged 50-59, the rate is 1.9.

Philips Respironics has announced that it is initiating a voluntary recall notification for Continuous and Non-Continuous Ventilators (certain CPAP, BiLevel PAP and Ventilator Devices, including DreamStation machines and System One machines). Philips Respironics takes patient safety very seriously, and is currently engaging with Australian regulatory bodies to rectify the issues. You can view the list of impacted machines, and FAQs here: www.philips.com/SRC-update.

New research from the Journal of the American College of Cardiology has shown that having a fatty heart, regardless of your weight, increases your risk of heart failure by 50-100%! Pericardial fat, which is the fat that surrounds your heart, can increase your risk of heart failure regardless of other risk factors like body weight, smoking, and high cholesterol. The study also found that women who met the criteria for high pericardial fat volume had double the risk of heart failure, where men who met the criteria has a 53% increased risk.

Feeling more tired than normal now that winter has hit? You’re not alone. With less sunlight during the day, our bodies produce more melatonin and less serotonin, making us sleepier. However, you may also find you are sleeping worse during winter – here are 3 tips to help improve your sleep during winter.

Health Minister, Greg Hunt, announced yesterday that 2.1 million Australians aged 50-59 will now be advised to take the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine rather than the previously advised AstraZeneca vaccine. This decision comes off the advice provided by the Australian Technical Advisory Group.