Australians are being urged to continue receiving coronavirus vaccines after the age limit for the AstraZeneca jab was lifted.
People under 60 will be offered Pfizer after the expert panel on immunisation changed its advice about extremely rare blood clots linked to AstraZeneca.
That means Sunshine Coast residents can now register with Queensland Health and book to receive the Pfizer jab at the vaccine hub at Sunshine Coast University Hospital.
Health authorities have encouraged the 815,000 Australians who have had their first dose of AstraZeneca to receive a second jab of that vaccine because of dramatically lower risk than the initial shot.
Two people have died from the rare condition with more than 3.8 million AstraZeneca doses administered nationally.
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation says the benefits of coronavirus vaccination for people aged 60 and over were greater than in younger people.
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“The risks of severe outcomes with COVID-19 increase with age and are particularly high in older unvaccinated individuals.”
Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid said the government should introduce a longer GP consultation as a Medicare item to allow for more explanation.
“People who have had the AstraZeneca vaccine should not be alarmed by this decision,” he said.
“The risks of serious complications, including clotting, from the AstraZeneca vaccine are very low and Australia is now very good at detecting clots in patients who’ve had the AstraZeneca vaccine.”
Infectious diseases expert Paul Griffin said Australia was fortunate to have excellent control of the virus and very low rates of severe disease.
“We also are fortunate enough to have an alternate vaccine in the form of Pfizer, albeit still in relatively short supply,” he said.
“Putting this all together it made sense to bring in an age cut-off, one that considered all of these variables and one that was always subject to change as the situation evolved.”
He said regulators and advice panels were made up of genuine experts who constantly monitored vaccine risks.
Epidemiologist Adrian Esterman said the advice was in line with European advice that nearly all cases of the rare clotting were in women under 60 years of age.
“However, this will again disrupt the vaccine rollout, since Pfizer vaccine supplies are limited, and we are unlikely to get additional Pfizer vaccine, or for that matter Moderna or Novavax until much later this year,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the federal government put most of their eggs in the AstraZeneca basket, and this is now becoming a major problem.”
Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles ramped up his criticism of the strategy.
“The prime minister bet the house on AstraZeneca and now the vaccine roll-out is in disarray,” he told parliament.
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