Aussies’ vax plan upended
Authorities scramble as AstraZeneca jab ruled out for under-50s due to blood clots
Australia’s national Covid-19 vaccine rollout was meant to be ramping up now. Instead, health authorities have been scrambling after rare blood clots linked to the AstraZeneca jab meant millions of Australians can no longer receive the vaccine the country had been relying on.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison called a press conference on Friday night to announce the AstraZeneca jab would no longer be given to any Australian under the age of 50.
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) had received evidence from colleagues in Europe that showed there was a small but concerning number of cases where people who have received the AstraZeneca vaccine have developed blood clots. About four to six people out of every million have become sick after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The evidence led to ATAGI advising everyone under the age of 50 yet to be vaccinated to receive an alternative to AstraZeneca, which leaves the Pfizer vaccine their only option.
Morrison said Australia had secured 20 million additional Pfizer vaccines, doubling the country’s number of Pfizer doses — but the supply would not be available until the fourth quarter of the year.
The change means plans to have all Australians vaccinated with their first dose by October are all but dashed. Morrison was at pains to calm concerns the nation’s vaccination timetable could be severely delayed.
Asked by reporters if there was a rough timetable for everyone in Australia to be vaccinated, he cut off the question.
“We have to take the time to assess the implications for the programme.
“When we’ve done that, we may be able to form a view. But I don’t think anyone should expect that any time soon. This will take some time to work through the implications.”
As the world’s vaccine race began to heat up last year, Morrison repeatedly told Australians the nation was “at the front of the queue” for supply.
The government also repeatedly said it was securing supply of various vaccines to ensure it wasn’t putting “all our eggs in one basket”.
But the government only ordered 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine — enough for 10 million Australians. Of those, only about a million have arrived on Australian shores.
Meanwhile, talks with Moderna, which developed a vaccine that has been successfully rolled out across the United States and parts of Europe, broke down last year. Australia expects 51 million Novavax jabs later in the year and is looking to see if it can bring other vaccines forward.
The delays meant Australia was relying heavily on the AstraZeneca vaccine, firstly because transporting and administering that jab was much easier than Pfizer, which needs to be kept at a temperature of -70C, and secondly because the vaccine could be manufactured locally, at the CSL facility in Melbourne.
Federal Health Secretary Brendan Murphy said the nation was still desperate for AstraZeneca and it was perfectly safe for older Australians.
“We still have a big need for AstraZeneca. It is going to be a really important vaccine to vaccinate a significant proportion of the population,” Murphy said. “So they will continue to make AstraZeneca.”
The country’s vaccine rollout is already behind schedule. The government had planned on vaccinating four million people by the end of March — but only around one million people have now received their jabs. The government has said Australia’s low infection rates meant the rollout did not require urgency.
There are also supply issues with the European Union. Earlier this week, Morrison denied he had criticised the EU after 3.1 million doses already ordered by Australia were stuck overseas.
Leading infectious diseases expert and director of the Doherty Institute Sharon Lewin said the loss of the AstraZeneca vaccine would change things for the country.
“The plans to redirect Pfizer to the under-50s is a very good one, but it will slow things down,” she said.
“But these things have to be done. We have to ensure that a vaccine programme is safe.”
Lewin said the risks with the AstraZeneca jab remain very small but that “people should be reassured that the government is actually responding to new data” and the advice of medical experts.