Over 60s urged to get AZ jab

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 an 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 vaccine rollout.

Ltgen John Frewen, who is running Australia’s vaccine 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 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.