AstraZeneca for all ages; vaccines mandated for aged care, quarantine workers

Australians of any age can immediately get the AstraZeneca vaccine if they talk to their GP while aged care workers must now get vaccination. Read the announcements from national cabinet.

Australians of any age can immediately get the AstraZeneca vaccine if they talk to their GP about the very low blood clot risk under a new indemnity scheme.

Pfizer remains the preferred option for people aged under 60, but with the vaccine in short supply for at least another three months, millions of Australians could be protected sooner if they wanted to have the AstraZeneca jab.

National cabinet agreed the new indemnity scheme protecting GPs who administer AstraZeneca to any age group would be backdated to the start of the rollout and remain for the entire pandemic.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the changes agreed at national cabinet on Monday night, including opening AstraZeneca for all.

During the emergency meeting on Monday night state and territory leaders also agreed to:

– Mandate residential aged care workers have at least the first dose of vaccine by mid September 2021;

– Mandate quarantine workers get vaccinated;

– Make vaccines eligible to all household contacts of a quarantine worker;

– Require returned travellers who leave quarantine be tested for Covid-19 on day 16 or 17;

– Separate low risk quarantine residents from higher risk returned international travellers in hotel quarantine; and

– Seek health advice on vaccinations for aviation, interstate freight transport and mining (FIFO) workers.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Commonwealth indemnity support scheme would provide additional safeguards to patients and medical practitioners who choose to get the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“If (Australians 18 and over) wish to go and speak to their doctor, and have access to the AstraZeneca vaccine, they can do so,” he said.

Mr Morrison also announced a new $11 million grant program so residential aged care facilities to provide their staff with paid leave to get the vaccine.

“That can also involve situations where a person may be experience discomfort, following a vaccination,” he said.

Only about 33 per cent of the aged care workforce is currently vaccinated, despite having been eligible for the jab for months.

Based on expected deliveries of the Pfizer vaccine from overseas, Australia is not likely to have enough jabs to open the rollout to people aged 39 and under until about October.

Covid-19 task force leader Lieutenant General John Frewen said there were more than 2.6 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine currently available, and encouraged the 2.3 million Australians aged over 60 who have not yet received a jab to come forward.

Australians of any age can now book an AstraZeneca appointment. Picture: Fred TANNEAU / AFP

With about a million doses of AstraZeneca being produced domestically in Australia every week, there is ample supply for anyone who wants it.

Already more than 205,000 Australians aged under 50 have received the AstraZeneca vaccine and a further 840,500 aged between 50 and 59 have had their first dose.

Mr Morrison also warned Australia would only be able to consider broad changes to international borders, quarantine and other restrictions “next year” when vaccination levels are “much higher”.

Asked when the nation would shift toward living with the virus, including an increased risk of cases and even death, Mr Morrison said he would not “surrender” Australia’s advantage from suppressing Covid-19 “at this point”.

“Once we get into next year, I think we are in a position where we will be able to be considering changes to how potentially quarantine arrangements work, with much higher levels of vaccination, and the arrangements that are available for people that have been vaccinated, because they present a lower risk to the public health of the community,” he said.

He said the country was “nowhere near” being able to treat Covid-19 like the flu, pointing to the UK experience of 100 deaths a week, even with 80 per cent of the population vaccinated.

“That’s not a situation that I’m prepared to countenance,” he said.

Mr Morrison said even under the best-case vaccine rollout plan, Australia would not have been in a position to avoid the current Sydney lockdown.

“We have a lockdown because we have a new Delta variant which is proving to be highly contagious in a way that previous variants were not,” he said.