Labor chooses vocal critic of AstraZeneca Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah to run for federal seat

A doctor who said Australians had been ‘short-changed’ by the government’s decision to use AstraZeneca in its vaccine rollout has been preselected by the ALP.

A vocal critic of AstraZeneca and Australia’s management of the coronavirus has been preselected to run for Labor in the federal election.

Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah, asso­ciate director at the Monash Institute of Medical Engineering, has been chosen by Labor for the Victorian seat of Higgins.

In February on Q&A, Dr Ananda-Rajah criticised the efficacy of AstraZeneca and Australia’s decision to choose the vaccine as its bricks-and-mortar solution.

“Why not just start with a highly efficacious vaccine in the beginning?” she said.

Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah has been critical of Australia’s choice to rely on AstraZeneca.

She pointed to the Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax vaccines, noting Pfizer announced in an investor call they had slashed batch production from 110 days to 60 days and were going to be delivering 200 million doses to the US two months ahead of schedule.

She said there has been “a little bit of downplaying” of study results out of South Africa where a rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine was suspended.

“Due to the fact that in about 1700 people, young people who were around 30 years old, the vaccine failed in terms of its efficacy,” she said.

“It dropped to an efficacy of 20 per cent and in the people who had that South African variant, it dropped even further down to 10 per cent.”

Health Minister Greg Hunt said AstraZeneca had been the backbone of Australia’s and the UK’s vaccination programs. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

And, in a series of tweets over the past several months, Dr Ananda-Rajah has said: “Australia is being short-changed with an inferior vaccine” and said the AstraZeneca jab was “a lower efficacious vaccine”.

“I can’t shake this feeling that I feel like Australia is short-changing itself and I think that would be a pity given how far we’ve come,” she wrote in another tweet.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said: “I would hope that no one has been attacking a fundamentally vital and life-saving vaccine.

“I would especially hope that no one would compromise public confidence in any TGA-approved vaccine.

“It’s up to individuals to explain their views on a vaccine that has been the backbone of the UK and Australian vaccination programs,” he said.

A spokesman for Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said that Labor’s position was clear that Australians should always follow the health advice when it comes to managing the pandemic.

Dr Ananda-Rajah was contacted for comment.