Coronavirus Australia: Reluctant Jeannette Young flags AstraZeneca rethink

Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young has acknowledged that ‘now is the time’ for under-60s to consider getting the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young and Deputy Premier Stephen Miles on Tuesday. Picture: Brad Fleet

Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young has acknowledged that “now is the time” for under-60s to consider getting the AstraZeneca vaccine as the state recorded 16 new cases of Covid-19.

Of most concern was a new case detected in Cairns in the state’s far north on Tuesday afternoon, which left authorities scrambling to determine whether it was linked to the growing outbreak in the southeast.

Dr Young has previously been reluctant to recommend AstraZeneca for people under 60 and had warned 18-year-olds against it because of the small risk of blood clots associated with it.

The escalating outbreak in southeast Queensland, declared a “hotspot” by the commonwealth, prompted her to change her rhetoric slightly on Tuesday, saying: “This is the time people under age 60 should be talking to GPs about what is best for them.”

Dr Young said the state was “on the verge” of a large outbreak that would be considered a trigger from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation to recommend everyone be given a vaccine, regardless of brand.

“ATAGI reaffirms previous ­advice that in large outbreaks, the benefits of the Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca are greater than the risk of rare side-effects for all age groups,” ATAGI said on Monday. Deputy chief medical officer ­Michael Kidd on Monday said the southeast Queensland outbreak was deemed “significant”.

Dr Young also continued to ­appeal for anyone over 60 to get vaccinated immediately. It came as Queensland accepted 150,000 extra doses of AstraZeneca from the commonwealth.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said the extra doses would be distributed to pharmacists and hopefully be “in arms” this week.

“That is fantastic, we will take them and more,” Ms D’Ath said.

“I asked the commonwealth, do whatever approvals you need to give today, get the 150,000 vaccines here tomorrow and we will ­ensure that more Queenslanders are getting vaccinated by the end of this week.”

The vaccines will go to more than 200 metro pharmacies, joining 131 community pharmacies in regional and outer metro areas ­already administering the vaccine.

More than 18 per cent of eligible Queenslanders have been fully vaccinated and 36.97 per cent have had at least one dose, according to Queensland Health.

Ms D’Ath said GPs had been inundated with vaccine inquiries in the past 48 hours.

“That is great news, but now some are worried they will run out of vaccine,” she said. “If there is more supply available, we will work to get that for them.”

The lockdown in 11 local government areas was supposed to end on Tuesday evening but has been extended to Sunday.

The outbreak in southeast Queensland has affected 47 people and has centred on schools in Brisbane’s inner west.

Most of the new cases reported on Tuesday were linked to Indooroopilly State High School, where a designated testing clinic has been set up for the school community.

Dr Young is concerned contact tracers had still not uncovered how the outbreak began. “I’m concerned that we don’t know how this outbreak has happened,” she told Tuesday’s press conference.

“We know the very first two cases that arrived in Queensland on June 29, but I don’t know how it has got from either of those two people to the first family in that Indooroopilly area.”

More than 400 Queensland Health staff have been taken out of work, deemed close contacts to people in the cluster, putting ­increased strain on the workforce.