Queensland health boss Jeannette Young won’t budge on Covid-19 jabs

Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young is standing firm on her advice that the Astra­Zeneca vaccine should not be taken by the under-40s.

Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young. Picture: Tertius Pickard

Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young is standing firm on her advice that the Astra­Zeneca vaccine should not be taken by the under-40s despite a study finding it has a “similar ­safety profile” to Pfizer.

A study of 1.3 million Spanish people, pre-released in The Lancet this week, found patients were more likely to develop blood clots from Covid-19 than vaccines.

“In this study we have found the safety profiles of ChAdOx1 (AstraZeneca) and BNT162b2 (Pfizer), an mRNA-based vaccine, to be broadly similar,” the paper reads.

Dr Young, who last month ­insisted she “did not want under-40s to get AstraZeneca”, said she had been aware of that data for some time.

“Lots and lots of Australians get blood clots in their legs – deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary emboli – all the time, it is actually quite a common health condition,” she said on Friday.

“This other condition, thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) is quite different.”

Virologist Lara Herrero said the study had not found any increased risk of TTS in people who had received their first dose of ­AstraZeneca, compared with ­Pfizer. “But we need to be really careful how we interpret it ­because it is not peer-reviewed yet,” she said.

Australia’s vaccine advisory body has urged all adults in ­Greater Sydney to ­consider being vaccinated with ­AstraZeneca to help curb surging rates of the Delta variant. The official advice for the rest of Australia is that ­Pfizer is the preferred ­vaccine for those aged under 60.

Dr Herrero, an associate professor at Griffith University, ­believes the advice should be ­extended to other parts of Australia, including states with low rates of Covid-19.

“There are not many cases now but let’s blink and see what happens,” she said. “The situation in Sydney should be a huge warning to all of Australia that this could come onto your doorstop at any moment.

“If we look at the numbers and the science we should not be fearing the AstraZeneca vaccine as much as people are. It has proven to be a safe vaccine, especially when you compare it with the risks of Covid.”

The Australian Technical ­Advisory Group on Immunisation advises the risk of TTS after AstraZeneca is estimated at 2.6 cases per 100,000 people in those younger than 60.

For those older than 60 it is 1.7 per 100,000 people.

Peter Collignon, an infectious disease physician at the Australian National University, said younger Australians should be able to weigh up the risk with their GP. “You are less likely to die of Covid when you are younger, but you are more likely to get the clot (TTS),” he said. “In saying that, AstraZeneca has been approved for people over the age of 18.

“Your risk per year of dying on the road is higher than your risk of dying of an AstraZeneca vaccine.”