Number of unused AstraZeneca vaccines in Australia tops 3 million

The number of unused AstraZeneca vaccine doses has increased to three million, despite repeated claims that Australia’s vaccine rollout is being hampered by a lack of supply.

NSW is poised to scrap a requirement that anyone under 40 needs to see their GP before first receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine as the state races to suppress the faster-spreading Delta variant.

Many of the states’ chief health officers, including Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton, have received the AstraZeneca vaccine.

This would enable younger people in NSW to get vaccinated faster and at walk-up clinics and pharmacies, similar to how the jabs have been delivered to the adult population in Britain.

Figures obtained by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age show there is plenty of supply, with the number of unused AstraZeneca vaccines increasing to more than three million since figures were first provided by the federal government on June 28.

Then, the government revealed that there were 2.6 million doses of AstraZeneca available and 2.3 million Australians aged over 60 who had not yet been vaccinated.

Professor Greg Dore, an infectious diseases expert with the Kirby Institute, said the “waiting for Pfizer brigade” had grown.

“We will look back on anti-AstraZenecism as one of the greatest public health failings in many years,” Professor Dore said.

“Even though we’ve seen many young people coming forward for AstraZeneca, many more older people are still ‘waiting for Pfizer’ due to irreparable damage by some in the medical profession and other commentators.

“The messaging around AstraZeneca needs to move away from the agenda of severe consequences of an incredibly rare event to the very real consequences of an increasingly common event in contracting COVID-19.”

Averil Foster, a family lawyer and partner of Phelps Reid Foster Johnson Lawyers, said she had booked an appointment to receive her AstraZeneca vaccine with her GP in Canberra next Tuesday.

Averil Foster, 38, is getting her AstraZeneca vaccine next week in Canberra.

She said after researching the risks of developing a blood clot, it was the “socially responsible thing to do”.

“‘More remote than a shark attack’ was the analogy my GP used,” she said.

“I also feel that it is the socially responsible thing to do; it’s terribly sad what is happening in our neighbouring countries like Indonesia.

“Australia is so privileged with a great health system and access to medical information, yet we have so many who are unvaccinated.

“While our health system is great if our hospitals start to overload, who knows if they will cope? Everyone will suffer then,” the mother-of-two said.

Margaret Harris from the World Health Organisation said Australia should give unwanted vaccines to countries that could use them.

“If you have excess doses of any kind there are many other countries who understand that this is a good vaccine and would like to have it please,” she said.

Australia is already donating tens of thousands of AstraZeneca jabs to Pacific countries.

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation has been partly blamed by some, including Prime Minister Scott Morrison, for causing distrust in the vaccine by constantly changing its recommendations advice due to the rare side effects of blood clotting.

After recommending the jab for those aged over 50, and then those aged over 60, ATAGI now says any adult in Sydney should “strongly consider” receiving AstraZeneca.