Informed public critical to vaccine success, Tasmanian doctors say

People worried about the potential side effects of Covid vaccines after the death of a Tasmanian man this week need to understand the risks — and not be afraid to ask questions, doctors say. KNOW THE RISKS >>

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PEOPLE concerned about the potential side effects of Covid-19 vaccines need to understand the risks — and not be afraid to ask questions of medical professionals, doctors say.

Reports of increased vaccine hesitancy in Tasmania have been compounded by the death of a 44-year-old Tasmanian man from vaccine-related illness.

AMA Tasmania vice president John Saul said the health system was responding at high speed to a pandemic that itself was changing and evolving rapidly.

That would involve human failings and setbacks, Dr Saul said.

Dr. John Saul. Picture Chris Kidd

“The GP journey has been quite frustrating all the way along,” he said. “We’re covering a few gaps in the government rollout and yet supply deliveries has been really challenging.

“You can track your Anaconda mail order better than you can your vaccine delivery at times, even Coopers Brewery in Adelaide do a better job with my homebrew supplies.

“It’s tricky times. We’re making wartime decisions on the run. NSW has entered a state of emergency. I’ve felt we’ve had a health emergency for 15 months really.”

He said that general practitioners were conscious about making sure that their patients were aware of potential side effects of vaccines — but no system was perfect.

“It’s a challenging process, it’s a new vaccine. How much people absorb it’s very difficult to judge in the heat of that consultation, especially when people are buzzing around if we’re doing a large clinic.

“Certainly our attention general practice to warn of all side effects and especially with AstraZeneca for everyone to be wary of unexplained headaches and the other risks.”

He said it was critically important for people with questions — or who were experiencing side effects — to get in touch with their GPs.

In Tasmania, everyone aged over 18 can receive the AstraZeneca vaccine from a GP.

Government clinics are only delivering second doses of AstraZeneca only for those aged 50 and over who have already received their first dose and Pfizer to everyone else.

GPs are able to give the AstraZeneca vaccine to anyone who requests it and some also have Pfizer.

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Karen Price said vaccination — and good information about vaccination — was critical to getting the nation out of the medical emergency.

“I think there’s just been a recalibration that the older population were better served by their own GP, most of them have their own GP, there’s a lot of medical conditions to get through a lot of chat needed with the AstraZeneca vaccine, there’s just not the time in a state mass vaccination situation to go through those conversations,” she said.

“It’s tricky, because we don’t have enough over 60s vaccinated and we’ve got AstraZeneca in supply and we need to get those people moving through into getting AstraZeneca.

“By doing nothing, there is still a risk. We’re looking very, very closely at NSW, which is in trouble. We need to get that under control because when one state is in trouble, then the rest of Australia is potentially to sustain permanent lockdown, which is just not a solution.

“People probably still have questions unanswered and they need to get their advice from a doctor or their health care worker, not from someone over the back fence or from the television.

“We’re going to be in a pretty bad situation if we keep having vaccine refusal. I don’t think there’s much, I think people just need to have the communication. “

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