Paused vaccine given jab go-ahead

Victoria will resume offering the AstraZeneca vaccination to ­people under 50 after the rollout was paused earlier this month following advice over blood-clotting side effects.

The head of the Victorian Health Department’s vaccine program, Ben Cowie said the priority was the safety of the vaccination program.

Victoria will resume offering the AstraZeneca vaccination to ­people under 50 after the rollout was paused earlier this month following advice over blood-clotting side effects.

The vaccinations will resume on Wednesday at the state’s three mass vaccination hubs — Geelong’s old Ford site, the Royal Exhibition Building and the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre.

Health Minister Martin Foley said people eligible under 1A and 1B could the vaccine with training and liability issues resolved. He said there was a “sense of ­urgency” in ramping up the rollout: “This is important because we need to re-establish confidence in our vaccination program which has taken a bit of a hit.”

People under 50 who are eligible under 1A and 1B can receive the Pfizer vaccine where supply is available.

The head of the Victorian Health Department’s vaccine program, Ben Cowie, said the pause allowed updated consent forms and information for the public and health workers.

He said there were risks associated with AstraZeneca but the public health advice supported the resumption of the rollout, given the limited supply of the Pfizer vaccine

“Whilst there are very rare ­serious side effects for the AstraZeneca vaccine, particularly for people aged under 50 years, essentially we’re balancing this against the risk of a pandemic and we’ve seen second and third waves of the pandemic overseas which have been absolutely devastating,” Professor Cowie said.

“The best way we can ensure that we don’t face those sort of situations here in Victoria and indeed in Australia is by having the highest levels of immunity in the population as quickly as we can.”

Professor Cowie said the priority was the safety of the vaccination program.

Victoria’s chief COVID-19 response commander, Jeroen Weimar, said number of vaccinations had dropped in the past two weeks to just 445 on Saturday compared with previous weekly averages of 25,000 to 30,000.

He encouraged people to get vaccinated but said there was a legitimate public concern about wanting to understand its potential implications.

“I think people have seen a lot of information come at them in the last couple of weeks and that’s where we … have to rely on the public health advice, we have to rely on the best possible health advice,” he said.

Mr Weimer said it was important the public had good access to information, which might involve consulting their GPs. “We want people to get the right vaccine for them and make sure it reflects their situation,” he said.

About 85 per cent of Victor­ians in phase 1A have already been vaccinated. The group includes frontline health workers, people working across the quarantine program and aged-care staff and residents.

Mr Weimar said some groups had been re-phased following ­advice from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Administration but the rollout would continue as quickly as possible.

“We’ll work as fast as we can, we’ll provide people with access and we’re very keen to see people come forward with confidence to get vaccinated,” he said.

“We will not get out of this pandemic without people being vaccinated.”