On the 21st of March 2020, Australia began introducing lockdown and social distancing rules as we started to feel the impacts of our first wave of the coronavirus. As of today, Australia has recorded 29,153 total cases, from which 909 have passed away.
As well as this loss, there have also been detrimental affects on our tourism, hospitality and various other industries that stimulate the economy. According to the Australian Government, we have secured access to more than 114.8 million doses of vaccine, 53.8 million of those from AstraZeneca, to combat the spread of the virus. However, the question currently being posed (not only in Australia but worldwide) is: should we wait to proceed with the roll-out?
A Sudden Announcement
On Monday, the 15th March, 6 million people became eligible to receive their COVID-19 vaccination. Soon after it was announced that hundreds of General Practice clinics were to be going live in administering the vaccine from Wednesday morning. This announcement caught many off guard, as clinics were unprepared for the large quantity of inquiries they would receive.
Some reports suggest clinics don’t have the appropriate software needed to take bookings, while others were not aware that the vaccine roll-out would be taking place in their practice at all.
A Sudden Pause
At the time of writing this article, 21 European countries had halted their AstraZeneca vaccine roll-out program after concern for the development of blood clots in recipients. To date more than 17 million people throughout these countries have received the vaccine, with less than 40 cases reporting potentially deadly blood clots after receiving the jab. The suspension is a precautionary measure and is expected to last for two weeks, or until the European Medicines Agency’s investigation into suspected side effects of the vaccine is completed.
Chief Health Officer Paul Kelly has stated there is no need for such action in Australia, ensuring that “the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is effective, it is safe, and it’s a high-quality vaccine.” Meanwhile on ABC News Breakfast, Physician Dr Norman Swan expressed concern that The Department of Health is “panicking behind the scenes because we’ve loaded the dice on AstraZeneca vaccine. If Astra turns out to be a problem, then we’ve got very little back-up here in Australia in terms of immunisation.”
The Current Outlook
Currently there are no plans in Australia to halt the distribution of the AstraZeneca vaccine, so as to meet the ambitious target of the nation being vaccinated by October. However, given the contention of this vaccine, and with investigations still underway, some uncertainty may still remain.
This issue raises a number of questions. For example; would a two week pause in distribution provide additional medical insight and improve confidence in the process? Or would a delay create unnecessary uncertainty for the public? If there was to be a delay, what steps should be taken to provide GPs and health clinics with additional time and resources in preparing for the roll-out?
A responsibility of government is to maintain public trust in the health advice they provide. In the current political climate, this is especially true of vaccines. At this stage we haven’t seen an impact on the quantity of people receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine, but there are complexities that must be considered by those managing the roll-out.
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Author – Aaron Claridge, GM
