Vaccine call as restrictions ease
“We can’t give Pfizer to people unless they have gone through the process of getting a referral from the specialist immunisation service. We want to reassure people Astrazeneca is a very effective vaccine and is safe, and with the Delta variant in Australia, we can’t keep deferring indefinitely while we have limited supply” – Genevieve Lilley
ealth experts in the Wimmera are urging residents to come forward for COVID-19 testing and consider all vaccine options as Victoria exits lockdown from today.
Grampians Sub-hub COVID vaccine roll-out co-ordinator Genevieve Lilley, based at Wimmera Health Care Group, is encouraging Wimmera people to book in for an Astrazeneca vaccine if they are eligible, while Pfizer supply remains restricted to high-risk categories.
Her comments came early yesterday before Premier Daniel Andrews announced the state would exit lockdown from midnight last night after a reduction in community transmission of coronavirus.
The state recorded 10 cases of COVID-19 in a 24-hour period linked to known outbreaks of the virus early yesterday.
A range of restrictions have eased across the state, including in hospitality, retail, sport and entertainment.
Ms Lilley said vaccinations were the best protection against the health risks associated with COVID-19 and would be crucial while the highly infectious Delta variant was present in Australia.
She said while the risk of transmission was ever-present in the country, people should consider all vaccines, including Astrazeneca.
“We still have unrestricted Astrazeneca and we’re getting a lot of vaccine requests from people who don’t want that vaccine,” she said.
“We really want people to know that we do not have flexibility with the vaccine roll-out.
“We could get another incursion of the virus into Victoria, so anyone who is vulnerable should take whichever vaccine they are eligible for.”
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, ATAGI, in a statement on Saturday, noted the benefits of the Astrazeneca vaccine were greater than the risk of rare side effects.
The advisory group stated earlier this year, Pfizer was preferred over Astrazeneca for those aged 16 to 59 years, due to health risks, including thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome cases in Australia and a reassessment of age-specific risks and benefits of vaccination.
“We can’t give Pfizer to people unless they have gone through the process of getting a referral from the specialist immunisation service,” Ms Lilley said.
“We want to reassure people Astrazeneca is a very effective vaccine and is safe, and with the Delta variant in Australia, we can’t keep deferring indefinitely while we have limited supply.”
Ms Lilley said the Pfizer vaccine would continue to be the dedicated vaccine for people in 1a and 1b categories while supply remained low.
“We’re still working on those priority groups and we don’t expect that to change for at least a few more weeks,” she said.
“We have still got quite a lot of health workers in the region unvaccinated and we’re trying to target them. In addition to them, there’s people in police, working quarantine, people with disabilities and disability carers who we need to consider.”
Meanwhile, East Grampians Health Service, another sub-hub for the region, passed a milestone of administering 5000 vaccination doses yesterday.
Chief executive Andrew Freeman said this represented a positive step forward in the region’s vaccination program.
“That includes first and second doses of both Astrazeneca and Pfizer, which is a bit of a milestone for our vaccination clinic here at the health service,” he said.
Mr Freeman said the health service was administering between 250 and 350 Pfizer doses a week, but had capacity to vaccinate more.
“We’re prepping for when the volume and supply of Pfizer doses increases over the coming weeks so we can hopefully meet the demand of the community when it opens up to broader age groups,” he said.
“We expect we’ll have a flood of people under 40 wanting to get vaccinated.
“We have the capacity to vaccinate a lot more than we currently are, and we could certainly do with more supply.”
Restrictions update
Restrictions easing today also mean businesses and venues can reopen with capacity and density limits of one person per four square meters.
Live-music venues, dance classes and physical recreation facilities, including gyms, can open with density requirements.
Public gatherings will be allowed with up to 10 people, with infants under 12 months not included in the cap, but gatherings in the home are still not permitted. Funerals and weddings will be capped at 50 people.
Victoria will reinstate the rule ‘if you can work from home, you should work from home’.
Schools reopened for on-site learning to students today.
There are no travel limits within the state and people can now book accommodation, but must be with household members, an intimate partner or single-bubble person.
Masks will continue to be required indoors and outdoors, except in private residences, unless an exemption applies.
People can visit theweeklyadvertiser.com.au for a full list of restrictions.