CHO Jeannette Young will be replaced by infectious disease clinician Krispin Hajkowicz

Health authorities have confirmed who will replace Dr Jeannette Young as Queensland’s chief health officer - and he’s been asked a pointed question.

Queensland has appointed an infectious disease specialist to replace Dr Jeannette Young as the state’s top doctor as it braces for a surge in cases when border restrictions eventually ease.

Annastacia Palaszczuk on Tuesday confirmed the appointment of Krispin Hajkowicz as the next chief health officer, who the Premier said was the ideal candidate to manage the next phase of the Covid-19 crisis given his clinical expertise from the frontline.

The respected doctor was unveiled to a chorus of plaudits from the Premier and departing CHO.

But one question from reporters served as a reminder of the high profile scrutiny that accompanies the position.

Dr Young faced intense and widespread criticism when she infamously urged younger Queenslanders in June to avoid the AstraZeneca vaccine, declaring at the time she didn’t want 18-year-olds to die from extremely rare blood clotting side effects.

On Tuesday, Dr Hajkowicz was asked for his opinion on 18 to 19-year-olds receiving AstraZeneca.

The infectious disease clinician said he supported the position of his predecessor.

“I would follow the advice of ATAGI (Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation),” he said.

Dr Hajkowicz will become Queensland’s top doctor in November.

Dr Young will finish up as CHO and take over as the state’s next Governor. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

“Dr Young has always followed the advice of ATAGI and that would be my position on vaccinations.

“ATAGI is a group of experts, many of my colleagues are in ATAGI, and I think they make great recommendations which we will be following.”

Ms Palaszczuk said Dr Hajkowicz was selected following an “extensive recruitment process” and Dr Young said his expertise made him the “perfect person” for the role.

“He has been the lead in the treatment and management of Covid cases and it is not an accident that Queensland has had seven deaths out of our 2048 cases so far,” the current CHO said.

“Every single one of those deaths, I regretted, and we all regret it, but at least it wasn't more and that was due to the work he’s done.

“We’re coming out of the phase of the pandemic which was all about stopping the virus coming into Queensland.

“Now we’re getting to the point where we won’t be able to maintain that — the virus will come in no matter what we do, we need to have the health system prepared.”

Dr Young has wielded significant power throughout the pandemic. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Dr Hajkowicz, who has served as the director of the infectious disease unit at the Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital, will take over in the top position from November 1 when Dr Young ascends to the position of Governor of Queensland.

The next top doctor said he was “thrilled and honoured” to take the reigns and praised the outgoing CHO.

“There’s a big problem here in that it’s going to be very hard to follow in the footsteps of Dr Young who is brilliant, outstanding and has the respect of all of the doctors and all of the nurses looking after Covid in the state,” he said.

“It’s a unique moment in history, it’s by far the worst pandemic we’ve had.

“I have a lot of knowledge about the virus — I’m a technical infectious disease clinician and I think it’s the right time to have a clinical lead coming into the pandemic at this moment.”

The new appointment completes a changing of the guard in the critical leadership during the extraordinary threat of the pandemic, compounded by Dr Young’s deputy, Dr Sonya Bennett, accepting a role in Canberra.

Last month, Queensland Health revealed three deputies would be enlisted to smooth over the transition phase.

Dr Peter Aitken, Dr Lynne McKinlay and Dr James Smith have already commenced their roles to support the CHO, Director-General Dr John Wakefield said.

“To ensure we maintain that leadership and support the incoming CHO, we have appointed a team of Deputy CHOs to carry on Queensland’s successful COVID-19 response,” he said.

“Dr Aitken, Dr McKinlay and Dr Smith bring with them a wealth of experience and will support the incoming chief health officer across all aspects of the COVID-19 response – from incident management, to policy and public health.”