Covid booster jab lottery

AUSTRALIANS wanting to receive their Covid booster jabs early are being turned away by pharmacists and doctors, whose clinics are instead choosing to toss unused Pfizer stock.

Some medical practices have stopped delivering out-of-hours booster jabs entirely as government payments plummet.

It is not illegal for health practitioners to give people a booster dose earlier than six months after their second jab, as recommended by government rules.

Healthcare workers and those in remote areas can receive them five months after their second dose.

But doctors who give early booster jabs run the risk of not being eligible for the federal government’s no-fault compensation scheme, if the patient suffers a bad reaction.

“Nothing will go wrong giving it two days early, but technically you’re not covered by that defence,” one said.

Last week Melbourne GP Dr Mukesh Haikerwal disposed of 1000 Pfizer doses – he was not prepared to administer them for legal fears – because their use-by date was up.

Several doctors and chemists admit, off the record, they are rolling the dice and giving early doses to people travelling overseas or to the elderly who want extra protection in the lead-up to Christmas.

The UK has reduced the interval for booster shots to just three months for all adults.

But on Friday, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation found there was no evidence to suggest a shorter interval helped against the Omicron strain. GP clinics will shut down over Christmas and this could lead to a vaccination booster rush in January.

“We know that Britain has gone down to three months and we know other countries have also reduced their period from second to third dose,” Dr Haikerwal said.

Pharmacy Guild President Trent Twomey said some pharmacists were giving early boosters.

“The only limited examples I’ve had have been in situations where somebody is travelling overseas,” he said.

Mr Twomey said as demand for vaccinations peters out, with nearly 90 per cent of Australians over 16 doubledjabbed, chemists were throwing away up to nine doses of the vaccine on some days.

“They are all multi-dose vials and you’ve got to open it for the one person (per day),” he said.

GPS are threatening to stop providing Covid jabs because the amount they are paid to deliver the booster is 30 per cent less than for the first two.