AMA vice-president says CHO’s views on vaccine are ‘inappropriate’

Peak body vice-president fears vaccine strategy could leave Queensland in a devastating crisis similar to Sydney as the state struggles.

Australia’s peak medical body said Queensland top doctor’s insistence that young people avoid the AstraZeneca vaccine was “inappropriate” as the state grapples a Covid-19 crisis.

The state’s strictest lockdown was extended through to Sunday after 13 new cases were added to the Delta cluster and chaos descended on testing sites in the southeast, but chief health officer Jeannette Young stood firm on her view the jab not be taken by those under 60.

She urged Queenslanders to follow advice from the national vaccine regulatory body and said “I still don’t” want 18-year-olds to receive the AstraZeneca jab.

But Australian Medical Association vice-president Chris Moy said he was “very concerned” Queensland could be plunged into a widespread outbreak to rival the devastation in NSW.

He said the approach of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) to assign varying recommendations for the supply of AstraZeneca depending on the virus threat to each community was flawed.

The state’s top doctor stood firm on her view that younger Queenslanders not get AstraZeneca jab. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA Newswire

Following rare instances of blood clotting in those who received the jab, ATAGI employed a three stage criteria depending on the seriousness of the current virus threat being low, medium or high.

In an outbreak situation, it says people under 60 should get AstraZeneca if unable to get the Pfizer alternative, but Dr Moy said this risks communities being engulfed by the highly infectious variant.

“The problem is Delta has sped up time since their first advice,” he told NCA NewsWire.

“The concern about the use of that criteria has been that by the time you change guidance and you’ve gone from one category to the next, it's too late because it has happened so fast.”

Dr Moy likened the strategy to the “worst invention ever created” – a car airbag for which the user had to press a button to activate in the event of a crash.

“Sometimes it feels like that having to deal with the advice in the context of the Delta variant because by the time the Delta variant escalates, it's too late,” he said.

Dr Moy fears a change in approach will be too late. Picture: Gabriel Polychronis

Dr Young made national headlines during the state’s previous lockdown in June when she declared AstraZeneca should not be taken by under 60s despite the change in ATAGI recommendation.

Dr Moy slammed this opinion at the time as “inappropriate” during an interview on ABC and he reiterated his frustration with the CHO’s views on Monday.

“My concern is advice that is given in a way that looks like a command can significantly reduce confidence in a vaccine that has been very effective,” he told NCA NewsWire.

“On the one hand she has concerns about a very tiny risk of doing something – which is giving the vaccine – but there's also a massive risk in not doing something.

“If there’s an outbreak and people aren’t vaccinated, you’ve seen what is happening in Sydney at the moment and the number of people who are in hospital.”

Deputy federal chief medical officer Michael Kidd said it was likely the threat of the highly infectious variant would lead to a change in recommendation for the AstraZeneca (AZ) jab.

“ATAGI has noted the significant risk the Delta variant poses to our Covid-19 control, therefore continues to recommend vaccination for all adult Australians,” he told reporters on Monday afternoon.

“There is an increasing risk of outbreaks and places other than Greater Sydney and therefore the benefits and risk may change, and other parts of the country as well.

“ATAGI has reaffirmed their previous advice that in a large outbreak the benefits of the Covid-19 vaccine AZ are greater than the risk of the rare side effects.”