Syringe win for doctors means more people can be vaccinated

Doctors administering the AstraZeneca vaccine will be able to jab 10 per cent more people after health bureaucrats agreed to make one simple change.

Doctors administering the AstraZeneca vaccine across Australia will be able to jab 10 per cent more people after health bureaucrats backflipped and ordered them to change to a syringe that will allow them to get an extra dose out of every vial.

Doctors had been complaining without success to federal Department of Health officials that the 3ml syringes supplied to administer AZ shots were causing vaccine to go to waste.

The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is currently supplied with 3ml syringes but will soon be supplied with more efficient 1ml syringes. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

But an hour after The Saturday Telegraph contacted the department about the issue, officials issued a nationwide edict changing the rules.

Each 5ml vial of the AstraZeneca vaccine supplied to GPs is meant to hold enough to inoculate 10 people.

But doctors found that by using smaller 1ml syringes instead of the ones they were being given, they could get an extra dose out of each vial.

Dr Gerald Segal said he had raised the matter with the ­department but got nowhere.

“There’s a wastage factor with syringes, there’s a volume left in the needle,” he said.

“When you use the smaller syringes the wastage factor is smaller than with larger syringes not only because the dead space is smaller but you can also measure the dose much more accurately.”

Christine Lazarevic, 59, from Castle Hill in Sydney, gets her first dose of AstraZeneca. Picture: Toby Zerna

With many GP clinics in rural and regional areas still only getting small numbers of vaccines to administer, the extra shot could make a significant difference.

Dr Paul Duff, who practises in northeast Victoria, said his practice is still only getting 250 doses of vaccine a week.

Switching to a 1ml syringe will allow him to jab an extra 25 people a week.

“GPs could increase the number they are vaccinating right now by 10 per cent if the federal Department of Health would issue the right syringes,” he said on Friday morning.

“The irony is there are 1ml syringes available, although they are low in stock.”

Like Dr Segal, Dr Duff had told officials the rules needed to be changed.

“We just got told we’re not doing that,” he said.

AstraZenca vaccines are given at the Royal Exhibition Building COVID-19 Vaccination Centre in Melbourne on Friday. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

But just an hour after ­receiving inquiries from The Saturday Telegraph, the department emailed GPs across Australia announcing the change they had been asking for.

“To date, the 3mL Luer Slip Syringe has been used for AstraZeneca vaccine administration, however this will now be substituted for the 1mL ­Tuberculin Injection Syringe,” the email said.

“The 3mL Luer Slip Syringe will now be reserved for Pfizer vaccine administration only, specifically diluting the ­vaccine.

Moving forward, the 1mL Tuberculin Injection Syringe will be provided for all AstraZeneca vaccine orders.”

The department did not respond to a The Saturday Telegraph request for further comment on the matter.