Queensland's new Chief Health Officer has been named as Dr Krispin Hajkowicz, who will take over from Dr Jeannette Young on November 1.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk made the announcement in a press conference today.
"For over 600 days, Dr Young has stood by Queensland's side as we've battled this pandemic and of course next month Dr Young will take up the distinguished high office of governor of this state," Ms Palaszczuk said.
"There has been an extensive recruitment process and I'm very pleased to announce that Dr Krispin Hajkowicz will take on that role from the first of November."
Dr Hajkowicz is the Director of the Infectious Disease Unit at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital.
He has managed pandemics and has been involved in the management of the 2009 influenza pandemic, Ebola and Zika.
He is also the associate professor at the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research and has been published more than 27 times in medical journals.
Dr Young said she was "delighted" that Dr Hajkowicz would be taking on the role from November.
"He is the perfect person to take on the role at this point in the pandemic because he has been our lead and I have been going to him for the last two years for advice," Dr Young said.
"He has been the lead in the treatment and management of COVID cases and it is no accident that Queensland has only had seven deaths out of our 2048 cases so far.
"Every single one of those deaths - I regret it, and we all regret it - but at least it wasn't more, and that was due to the work that he's done and led across our state."
Dr Hajkowicz said he was "thrilled" and "honoured" to become the next CHO.
"I'm honoured to be joining this team and I think the results that Queensland has achieved in the pandemic to date speak for themselves and I'm really honoured to serve the people of Queensland," Dr Hajkowicz said.
"There's a big problem which is it's going to be very hard to follow in the footsteps of Dr Young, who is brilliant, outstanding and has the respect of all of the doctors, all of the nurses looking after COVID in the state.
Dr Hajkowicz said he had worked on the frontline of the COVID response for the last 18 months, managing patients in hospital and in ICU, and had "a very good personal experience with this virus".
"We have an opportunity to get our vaccination rates up, so please get vaccinated. Do it today. Prioritise it over other things you need to do today. If you can't do it today, make a booking online - do it this week.
"It takes time to get protection from vaccination and we need to get on with it right now."
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Brandon Long
Brandon Long is a Queensland Country Life journalist based in Toowoomba.
Brandon Long is a Queensland Country Life journalist based in Toowoomba.
