Parents who jumped the queue to get their teenage children Pfizer vaccines in Sydney have appointments cancelled

Parents in Sydney who revealed they “jumped the queue” so their kids could get vaccinated will need to wait until next month to get access to a jab.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejikian’s pledge to honour vaccine bookings for teenagers despite a glitch that allowed parents to book early has been dumped less than 24 hours after she reassured families the vaccinations would go ahead.

Despite her pledge to voters, hundreds of parents were sent automated messages on Friday night cancelling the vaccination appointments.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard apologised for the confusion at a press conference on Saturday. But he indicated that NSW Health has zero intention of honouring Ms Berejiklian’s pledge.

“As I understand and I was advised last night, there had been some sort of computer glitch which allowed people in the age bracket 12-15 to be able to book in circumstances that were not actually intended at this point,” he said.

“As the Prime Minister announced yesterday, for the broader group of 12-15 -year-olds, that will occur mid-September, but of course, for quite some time there has been a capacity through the system to book 12-15 -year-olds who are Aboriginal I should say, and children underlying severe health issues.

“Suffice to say, it is not desirable obviously that people have been able to use the system and effectively to be able to book in when it is not ready for those young people yet. The system will be ready, by the middle of September as the Prime Minister said.”

Health Minister Brad Hazzard. Picture: Gaye Gerard/NewsWire

NSW Health Deputy Secretary Susan Pearce said the appointments would be cancelled.

“Can I apologise for the inconvenience this has caused to people, we absolutely understand that people want to get their kids vaccinated as soon as possible, but yesterday a few things collided that resulted in some confusion,‘’ she said.

“One was a social media post that went around saying Royal Prince Alfred Hospital had 100,000 Pfizer vaccines that were about to expire, that post contained a link, and there was a tactical issue to make provision for 12-15-year-olds more broadly in a few weeks time, so we have contacted parents that have 12-15 -year-old children currently who meet the eligibility criteria, and what happened was these bookings will be able to be made outside of the eligibility checker which has resulted in the issue, so we apologise for that.

“However, we have been in contact with people we have tried to exclude people who we could see were indeed eligible, we have asked people to come forward if they believe that they are eligible, and obviously any eligible bookings will be honoured and for others who have children in the 12-15 year old age range that are generally eligible, we will be coming out in the weeks ahead to announce when we can open those bookings are more broadly so that there is a level playing field for everybody across the state at the same time.

“We would say to people, be patient, understand at the moment we are vaccinating a lot of people in areas of concern, there is a good reason for the prioritisation of vaccine at the moment are the parts of Sydney that continue to generate 70- 80 per cent of the state‘s cases, and as I said we understand people want to get their children, we all want to get everybody vaccinated, but there are priority arrangements in place, and as I said, if children are eligible.”

A young person receives a Pfizer vaccine. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian publicly pledged to let the appointments go ahead after being alerted to a booking system glitch that opened them early on Friday morning.

But despite her reassurance during Friday’s covid press conference, NSW Health started contacting parents indicating the jabs for their kids are now cancelled.

The automated text states: “COVID Vaccinations for ages 12-15 years will be generally available to book later next month. We‘re sorry, due a technical error, some appointments were made available ahead of schedule.

“You are eligible now if you are aged between 12-15 yrs and are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, or have an underlying medical condition, or are a person on the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), or living with disability requiring frequent assistance with activities of daily living.

“If this applies to you please reply YES.

“If you are NOT in the above groups, please reply NO and we will cancel your current booking, but will contact you when appointments become available.

“If you do not reply within 24 hours your appointments will be cancelled automatically.”

In some cases parents say they spent hours on Friday trying to secure a spot for children in Covid hot spots.

“This was really disappointing and a complete waste of time for many parents who booked legitimately – particularly for teens living in LGAs of concern,” parent Annabelle Daniel said.

Anxious parents managed to jump the queue to get their teenage children appointments when the NSW vaccination website opened bookings just hours before the nation’s regulator approved the use of Pfizer for kids aged 12 and over.

While appointments at GP clinics will not open until September 13, Facebook and WhatsApp groups for parents ran hot with parents exchanging links to book Pfizer appointments at mass vaccination clinics in Sydney.

When she was told about it, Ms Berejiklian reassured parents that any Covid-19 vaccine bookings for children aged 12 to 15 “made successfully” on Friday will be honoured.

“Any bookings made successfully are honoured. We are pleased there is a national strategy for 12 to 15-year-olds and encourage parents who are inclined to make those bookings to do so,’’ she said.

“Clearly, we are planning to accommodate those students and I understand mid September is when we expect most parents to be able to make those bookings in earnest and in a reasonable time frame.”

News.com.au saw multiple screenshots of Facebook and WhatsApp groups of private school parents exchanging links to make bookings, including some same-day slots.

It is expected that all children 12 to 18 years of age – around one million children – will have access to a vaccine by the end of the year.

“I would encourage all parents from September 13 to visit the eligibility checker and book your child in for their vaccination, so we can ensure all Australians are protected from COVID-19,’’ Health Minister Greg Hunt said.

Education and Youth Minister Alan Tudge said the rollout of the vaccines to younger Australians should give more confidence to jurisdictions to keep schools open.

“Some students have missed more than half a year of face-to-face learning, and it is critically important that we get all students back in classrooms as soon as possible,” Minister Tudge said.

Parents should view the Covid-19 eligibility checker from September 13 to book in their child’s vaccination.

A three-pronged approach is set to be rolled out which will include: appointments for teenagers at state vaccination hubs and GP surgeries, vaccination squads in schools and family appointments where the entire family can get their jabs together.

However, the rollout at GPs will be constrained by supply. In some states, appointments for under 40s will only be offered from August 31 which is expected to create a rush of demand.

State vaccination hubs are also expected to offer appointments for teenagers from next month. The rollout at GPs clinic however is controlled by the Morrison Government and will be stood up regardless of the outcome of today’s national cabinet meeting.

Beyond the offering of Pfizer bookings for teenagers from next month, planning is advanced to send vaccination squads into the nation’s high schools from Term 4 to deliver the mass vaccination of high school students as quickly as possible.

This is expected to be the key to fast-tracking the rollout of vaccines to a majority of teenagers by the end of the school year.

Earlier, Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed COVID-19 vaccine bookings will be opened for children aged 12 to 15 from September 13 at GP clinics, which are run by the Commonwealth.

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation has announced today that “vaccination against COVID-19 is recommended for all individuals from 12 years of age, extending the current recommendation for those aged 16 years and older.”

It notes the potential of new variants to pose a greater risk to non-immune children and adolescents in the future.

“Vaccinating adolescents is anticipated to contribute to a reduction in SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the broader population,’’ the advice states.

While the data suggests that SARS-CoV-2 is mainly spread between adults and from adult family members to children, school clusters are a growing site of transmissions.

“Vaccination of adolescents would likely contribute to reducing school-based transmission,’’ the advice states. “Many of these studies were conducted prior to detection of the Delta and other VoCs with higher transmissibility, suggesting even greater benefit from vaccination.”

Moderna will also be offered to teenagers

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation is also considering the use of Spikevax (Moderna) for adolescents and that decision will be finalised following the decision on provisional registration of Spikevax (Moderna) in this age group.

Teenagers with specified medical conditions that increase their risk of severe COVID-19, including NDIS participants Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals and those in remote communities are already eligible to make Pfizer bookings.

The new advice notes that in a trial with over 2000 participants aged 12-15 years, vaccine efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19 from seven days after dose two was 100 per cent.

After dose one and before dose two, there were three COVID-19 cases (within 11 days after dose one) among Comirnaty recipients compared with 12 cases in the placebo group resulting in vaccine efficacy of 75 per cent.

In the trial of Spikevax (Moderna) that recruited approximately 4000 participants aged 12-17 years, vaccine efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19 from 14 days after dose two was 93.3 per cent.

Benefits to vaccination include return to face-to-face learning

The advice notes that vaccinating adolescents is anticipated to reduce disruption to their education by preventing disease and reducing potential transmission and outbreaks in schools.

“Prolonged absence from face-to-face learning in school can have considerable psychosocial and educational impacts on children, and vaccination of all adolescents (alongside vaccination of school staff) offers benefit in mitigating against this,’’ the advice states.

“A reduction in the number and severity of outbreaks resulting in school closures and extensive public health interventions would also likely reduce disruption to parents’ and family work with clear economic benefits.

“Vaccinating adolescents would also likely result in less disruption to sports, other organised activities and socialising that are key to adolescent physical and mental wellbeing.”

Risks relating to vaccine adverse events

Clinical trials suggest that adverse events related to the vaccine for teenagers were generally mild to moderate in severity and typically resolved within 1-2 days.

“One in five adolescents developed fever (≥38C) after the second dose,’’ the advice states “As expected from clinical trial data, injection site pain was the most frequently reported adverse event after dose one. The proportions of individuals that required medical care in an emergency department or hospital in 12-15 years age group were similar to that in the 16-25 years age group (0.1% after dose one and 0.2% after dose two).”

Data suggest these conditions are causally related to vaccination with a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine although the exact mechanism is not clear and no risk factors have been identified. The risk appears highest in young people (adults

“While noting that the risk of myocarditis appears increased post dose two of an mRNA vaccine, ATAGI considers that the second vaccine dose is needed to ensure optimal protection and duration of immunity. There are no data currently on whether the risk of myocarditis differs depending on the time interval between doses; as such, a routine interval of 3-6 weeks between Comirnaty doses is recommended,’’ the ATAGI advice states.

Originally published as Parents who jumped the queue to get their teenage children Pfizer vaccines in Sydney have appointments cancelled