Coronavirus Australia: ‘No extra danger’ in latest vaccine scare

Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly dismisses blood clots concerns over AstraZeneca as Scott Morrison defends speed of vaccine rollout.

Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said the government did not ­believe people who received the AstraZeneca jab were at any greater risk of blood clots Picture: AFP

Australia’s Chief Medical Officer, Paul Kelly, has dismissed concerns that the AstraZeneca vaccine may be linked with blood clots, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison continued to defend the speed of the nation’s vaccine rollout.

Professor Kelly said the Australian government did not ­believe people who received the AstraZeneca jab were at any greater risk of blood clots, following the suspension of the vaccine in Denmark, Iceland and Norway.

Denmark health authorities are investigating the death of a 60-year-old vaccinated woman from a coagulation disorder and another illness from a pulmonary embolism in a person who had ­received the AstraZeneca vaccine. No link has been established with the vaccine.

Professor Kelly said Australian authorities were not concerned about the cases.

“There is currently no evidence that the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine causes blood clots,” Professor Kelly said. “The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is ­effective, it is safe, and it’s a high-quality vaccine … There have been more than 11 million people vaccinated in the UK without evidence of an ­increase in blood clots.”

Following the suspensions in the three Nordic countries, ­Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Austria have also stopped using one batch of the vaccine pending a probe in relation to a separate death in Austria of a woman with “severe blood coagulation problems” and some blood clotting episodes in others. Italy has also halted the distribution of one batch of the vaccine after the deaths of two men in ­Sicily.

Scott Morrison on Friday ­denied suggestions his government had recently said all willing Australians would have two doses of the coronavirus vaccine by the end of October.

Health Department secretary Brendan Murphy told a Senate hearing on Thursday that all Australians would likely have their first dose by October. The deadline has been pushed out on two doses as the waiting time before the first and second shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine has been grown from four to 12 weeks.

The Prime Minister said government had clarified a month ago that the October deadline ­referred only to the first dose.

“What the government has said has been very clear and it was the move from four weeks to 12 weeks — which meant the second dose being completed by the end of October for all of those seeking them — that wasn’t going to be possible,” he said.

Australia’s vaccine rollout faces further possible interruption with a major insurer of nurses “temporarily pausing” the issue of new policies for nurses who are participating in the COVID-19 vaccine program.

Guild Insurance, Australia’s biggest public liability insurer, says it is in talks with the federal government “to secure essential support” for insured nurses.

Additional reporting: Jacquelin Magnay