Highgate Park vaccination clinic flooded with demand for Pfizer vaccines from 18-39 age group

SA Health has recorded a wastage rate of less than one per cent for Pfizer vaccines, despite an official vaccination clinic wrongly offering jabs to those under 40 because of slow demand.

SA Health has recorded a wastage rate of less than one per cent for Pfizer vaccines and just over two per cent for AstraZeneca doses across its clinics and hospital sites.

This is lower than the Commonwealth Vaccine Operations Committee and the World Health Organisation vaccine guidelines’ anticipated wastage rate for multi-dose vaccines of up to 10 per cent.

Wastage reasons at SA Health sites include dilution issues, issues with syringes and/or needles, dropped vials or syringes and unused doses.

Wastage issues hit the spotlight this week with the Highgate Park Clinic inviting people aged under 40 to get doses.

The Department for Human Services clinic, which is for disability and aged-care sector workers only, sparked a frenzy after staff said it was accepting patients aged 18 to 39 because of concerns over slow demand, triggering fears Pfizer doses would be wasted.

The offer was quickly stopped on Monday when it became public although bookings made for this week will be honoured.

Premier Steven Marshall on Tuesday – announcing new eased restrictions – put the incident down to human error and said there was “no suggestion of waste whatsoever”.

“We’re definitely not wasting vials – I can be absolutely certain on that,” he said.

“There was a human error – I don’t have the full details of that.

“The health advice is very very clear and that is that those vaccine doses need to be applied to the most vulnerable.”

Highgate Park briefly opened its vaccination clinic to 18-to-39-year-olds. Picture: Dean Martin

Mr Marshall said there was no advice so far on opening up vaccines to the next age group of 30-40-year-olds.

“But we do get a significant increase of doses from mid-next month. I think from the second week of September we do jump up in terms of the Pfizer doses coming into South Australia.”

Chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier said her thoughts turned to joy when hearing about the vaccination bungle.

“My first thought was I’m just so pleased there are so many young people who want to get vaccinated,” she said.

“This (vaccine distribution) is done on a booking service so we know how many vials we need at each service … I don’t think we have any waste here in South Australia,” she reiterated.

She said there had been a steady increase in the number of aged care workers getting vaccinated, “but it’s not as high as what we really need it to be.”

State secretary of the Australian Services Union Abbie Spencer said mixed messaging from the federal government had seen vaccine hesitancy among the disability workforce.

“Some people are waiting until they can access the Pfizer vaccine because they are scared of complications with AstraZeneca,” she said.

“Despite SA Health announcing that all disability workers can now access the Pfizer vaccine, regardless of age, our members are telling us that simply isn’t true. Disability workers who are over 60 are finding it impossible to book in for a Pfizer vaccine.”

A SA Health statement says: “Dedicated vaccination clinics have been set up to provide Covid-19 Pfizer vaccinations to disability and aged care staff, regardless of age. Anyone with a booking should provide evidence of their employment by way of a payslip, work identification or a letter from their employer.”

A DHS spokeswoman said the error on Monday allowed those over 18 to make a booking for a Pfizer dose “for a few hours”.

“This has now been rectified,” she said.

“All bookings made for this week will be honoured, including those … requiring a second dose.”

Amelia Chaplin, 25, got a jab at the clinic on Monday and said she was ecstatic to be afforded the opportunity.

“It’s a huge relief to finally have it because it felt like it would be months away before my age group would be eligible,” she said.

“It sounds like there wasn’t enough uptake from the categories that had Pfizer available to them, so they had too much stock.”

Ms Chaplin said she was told of the clinic’s availability to those under 40 on Friday, when a friend told her of the anomaly.

“I do feel really lucky to have gotten it, and also a bit of guilt but then I considered that everyone from phase 1a who wanted to get it must have done so by now.”

In SA, those older than 16 in regional areas are eligible for a Pfizer jab while patients younger than 40 can seek AstraZeneca through their GP. Federal advice restricts Pfizer to people aged up to 59.

Commonwealth figures show 22.13 per cent of the adult population is fully vaccinated.