NT vaccine rollout in chaos amid AstraZeneca declaration
NT health officials are scrambling to overhaul the vaccine rollout amid the latest warning from Scott Morrison that the jab wasn’t recommended for persons aged under 50.
Northern Territory
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HEALTH officials are scrambling to overhaul the Northern Territory’s vaccine rollout after Scott Morrison on Thursday night warned under 50s not to get the AstraZeneca jab.
The latest news that AstraZeneca has the minuscule but dangerous complication of blood clotting will mean yet more delays to the rollout, which is nearly 3 million doses behind schedule nationwide.
Speaking in front of Parliament House on Friday, NT health minister Natasha Fyles refused to say how significant the delays would be, but warned there would be impacts to the rollout of jabs to vulnerable Aboriginal communities.
“We had hoped to roll out vaccinations through April,” Ms Fyles said.
“We will now worth through a number of factors, not only the storage and the transportation, but the dosage of the vaccine,” she said.
“The Commonwealth government will now provide advice around what vaccinations we can see, and we’ll work through how we can safely deliver the appropriate vaccine to Territorians no matter where they live.”
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The AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been plagued by concerns of blood clotting side effects, is easier to roll out to remote communities because it doesn’t need to be stored extremely low temperatures unlike the Pfizer jab, which needs to be kept at -70C until use.
Ms Fyles was unable to say how long it would take for authorities to implement a new rollout plan.
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