PM’S CALL TO ARMS

TASMANIANS aged over 60 are being urged to get the AstraZeneca vaccine now or end up at the back of the queue when Pfizer supply ramps up.

A new wave of Pfizer jabs is expected to arrive next month, but supply will be prioritised for the 9.8 million people aged between 12 and 39.

It comes as Prime Minister Scott

Morrison urged people over 60 to get an AstraZeneca jab to open up Australia faster.

In letters to be sent next week to 586,713 people aged between 60 and 69 who are yet to be vaccinated, Mr Morrison says people in that group should get “vaccinated as soon as possible”.

AUSTRALIANS aged over 60 are being urged to get the AstraZeneca vaccine now or end up at the back of the queue when Pfizer supply ramps up.

A new wave of Pfizer jabs is expected to arrive in October, but the supply will be prioritised for the 9.8 million people aged between 12 and 39.

It comes as Prime Minister Scott Morrison encouraged people over 60 to get a lockdown-busting AstraZeneca injection to open up Australia faster and allow them to see their grandchildren.

In letters to be sent next week to 586,713 people aged between 60 and 69 who are yet to be vaccinated, Mr Morrison, Health Minister Greg Hunt and Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly note “people over 60 have a greatly increased risk of getting severe disease with Covid-19 and must be vaccinated as soon as possible”.

AstraZeneca is the recommended jab for that age bracket and there are more than three million doses sitting in fridges waiting to be administered. There are also calls to shorten the gap between the first and second doses, from 12 weeks to as little as four weeks, to supercharge the rollout.

Lt-Gen John Frewen, who is running Australia’s jab rollout, said “the best vaccine you can get is the vaccine that’s available”.

Supplies of Pfizer jabs are expected to jump from 4.8 million in September to nine million in October, as new doses arrive from Belgium.

And there will be one million Moderna jabs from Spain in September and a further three million in October. But the Pfizer vaccines are destined for 8.6 million Australians aged between 16 and 39 who became eligible for Pfizer doses this week.

And there are another 1.2 million aged between 12 and 15 who will get first access to Pfizer supplies from September 13.

Vaccine holdouts over 60 will be forced to wait until as long as Christmas if they shun the Australian-made AstraZeneca vaccine, which has proven to have high efficacy against Covid-19.

Mr Morrison’s letter comes as cases skyrocket across Sydney and Melbourne.

“I encourage everyone, particularly Australians over 60, to go out and get vaccinated,” he said. “Getting vaccinated can save your life, protect your family and it means a return to more normal life with family and friends and seeing the grandchildren.”

More than 82 per cent of people over 60 have had a first dose of AstraZeneca’s vaccine.

But there is a major push on to get those rates as close to 100 per cent as possible to ease the burden on the health system once the country does reopen. There is a national plan to reopen once vaccination levels hit 70 and 80 per cent, making lockdowns unlikely.

Currently, 35 per cent of Australians are fully vaccinated, with 58.7 per cent aged over 16 having had a first dose.

“The recent outbreaks of the infectious Delta Covid-19 strain means it’s even more important that Australians over 60 get vaccinated right now,” Mr Morrison said.

There have been six deaths as a result of blood clotting side effects of AstraZeneca from 10 million doses.