‘Brave GP’ to give AstraZeneca jabs to under 40s, says Adelaide doctor, amid fresh vaccine confusion

SA doctors have recoiled from the PM’s surprise call to allow younger people access to AstraZeneca jabs as clinic phone lines melted down around the country.

SA Health will only offer the Pfizer vaccine to people under 60 as confusion gripped the federal government’s vaccine rollout and 12 million Australians went into lockdown.

In the wake of the surprise decision, announced late Monday, to open up AstraZeneca shots to people under 40, SA Health said last night there would be no change to its program.

“SA Health clinics will continue to maintain an age differentiation and will be administering the Pfizer vaccine to those under 60 years,” SA deputy chief public health officer Dr Emily Kirkpatrick said in an update to GPs.

“GPs can refer eligible patients under 60 years to the Pfizer clinics.”

GPs also expressed concern and anger at the sudden shift in federal direction.

SA Health chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier and Premier Steven Marshall both gave lukewarm support, saying it was a”personal” and “individual” choice, leading local doctor Daniel Byrne, of the Chandlers Hill Surgery, said it would be a “brave GP” who gave a younger person an AstraZeneca jab.

Dr Daniel Byrne at Chandler’s Hill Surgery in Happy Valley. Picture: Matt Loxton

“Anyone aged 18-30 certainly won’t be getting it from me, and anyone 30-40 would certainly need a nuanced discussion but I am simply not expecting anyone to want it as we don’t have Covid in SA at the moment and because of the risks with AstraZeneca,” he said.

“People over 60 also are simply waiting for the Pfizer jab for the same reasons.

“It would be a brave GP who gave anyone under 40 AstraZeneca here at the moment.”

Mr Marshall said it was “an individual choice, some people want to get the vaccine much sooner”.

Professor Spurrier said: “At the end of the day with every medication it’s the patient’s choice, if they have had a robust discussion with their GP and understand the risk it is their decision.

“It is personal choice, I don’t have a particular issue with this announcement.”

In other key developments overnight:

HALF of the Australian public is in some form of lockdown, as the country recorded 25 new local cases on Tuesday, with authorities scrambling to contain sudden outbreaks in multiple cities.

ANOTHER seven cases were recorded in returned overseas travellers in hotel quarantine.

PANIC buying returned to local supermarkets.

ANGRY doctors hit out at Prime Minister Scott Morrison after their phone lines went into melt down on Tuesday following the latest late night vaccine backflip. The federal government vaccine announcement was not based on any changed medical advice – only the promise of legal indemnity to GPs.

The Australian Medical Association, which backed the indemnity for GPs, was last night advising patients under 60 that they should get the Pfizer vaccine instead of Astra Zeneca.

The AMA said the move would confuse people and GPs would struggle to explain the changes to patients.

The Royal Australian College of General practitioners (RACGP) said they were given no notice and no information about the decision to allow the under 40s to get the AstraZeneca jab.

Zak Collingwood, 18, Tiana Scholz, 18, Farah Younus, 21, Kim Tao, 21, had mixed ideas about whether they would opt for an earlier AZ vaccination. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

Queensland chief health officer Jeanette Young also stressed the “clinical advice” had not changed.

The turn around came just weeks after Pfizer was announced as the preferred vaccine for the age group because of the higher risk of rare blood clots from the vaccine in this age group.

Dr Byrne, a former Royal Australian College of GPs state president, described the situation as “Chaos Mark 2”.

He likened it to when the federal government first urged people to go to their GPs for shots before GPs actually had supplies of the vaccine.

“This is policy by press release but there is no actual indemnity paperwork, no consent forms and no Medicare item number for younger people so instead of bulk billing them I would be charging them around $80,” he said.

“Why on earth would you go to a GP for AstraZeneca, which needs a 12 week gap between shots, when right now you can book into the Noarlunga clinic in three weeks for a Pfizer jab and get your second jab with just a three week gap?”