Covid-19: Scott Morrison issues AstraZeneca vaccine plea to over-60s

Aussies 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.

Exclusive: 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 a lockdown-busting 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 3 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.

Lt Gen 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 9 million in October, as new doses arrive from Belgium.

And there will be 1 million Moderna jabs from Spain in September and a further 3 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.

People over 60 are being urged to get the AstraZeneca jab to open up Australia faster. Picture: AFP

Vaccine holdouts over 60 will be forced to wait until as long as Christmas if they shun the Australian-made AstraZeneca vaccine, which has proven to have high efficacy against Covid-19.

Mr Morrison’s letter, which also thanks those people who have already had their jab, comes as cases skyrocket across Sydney and Melbourne.

“I encourage everyone, particularly Australians over 60, to go out and get vaccinated,” he exclusively told this newspaper.

“Getting vaccinated can save your life, protect your family and it means a return to more normal life with family and friends and seeing the grandchildren.”

More than 82 per cent of people over 60 have had a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

But there is a major push on to get those rates as close to 100 per cent as possible to ease the burden on the health system once the country does reopen.

There is a national plan to reopen once vaccination levels hit 70 and 80 per cent, making lockdowns unlikely.

Currently, 35 per cent of Australians are fully vaccinated, with 58.7 per cent aged over 16 having had a first dose.

Vaccine holdouts over 60 will be forced to wait until as long as Christmas if they shun the Australian-made AstraZeneca vaccine. Picture: AFP

Mr Morrison said Australians were “getting vaccinated in record numbers”.

“The recent outbreaks of the infectious Delta COVID-19 strain means it’s even more important that Australians over 60 get vaccinated right now,” Mr Morrison said.

“AstraZeneca has been proven to be as effective as any COVID-19 vaccine and we have already administered almost 10 million doses in Australia.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has warned that COVID-19 would become a “pandemic of the unvaccinated”, with the virus eventually finding those who have not been jabbed.

There have been six deaths as a result of blood clotting side effects of AstraZeneca from 10 million doses – a chance of 1.66 million to one.

Each year, there are between five and 10 deaths as a result of lightning strikes in Australia, according to the University of Western Australia – a similar risk level to the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The risk of dying from COVID-19 was four per cent, or four in every 100 cases, according to the University of Sydney.

Professor Tony Blakely, an epidemiologist and public health medicine specialist at the University of Melbourne, said vaccination rates of up to 95 per cent in the over 60s was “entirely achievable.”

“In the UK, the vaccination rate in the elderly population is 90-95 per cent, You definitely want to push that right up,” he said.

“If you get 95 per cent of the over 60s and 65 per cent of the younger population that will get you to the 80 per cent quicker.”

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Originally published as Covid-19: Scott Morrison issues AstraZeneca vaccine plea to over-60s