Health authorities concede the decision to offer people under 50 an alternative vaccine to the AstraZeneca shot will impact confidence in the vaccine rollout.
But leading vaccine experts say changes to the vaccine rollout could be an opportunity to boost confidence and ensure Australians have the information they need to make an informed choice.
This week, concerns around vaccine acceptance were amplified after Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the AstraZeneca vaccine — the mainstay of the country's vaccination program — would no longer be recommended to people under 50 due to a very rare, but very serious, form of blood clots.
Reuters: Andreas Gebert
)Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly said health authorities had been as forthcoming as possible about decisions to change which vaccine people would get.
But, he admitted, the announcements could affect vaccine confidence.
"It's important for the Australian public to know that as soon as we know something, as soon as our expert advice from that ATAGI group made a decision, we went out," he said.
"It was within 15 minutes that we were telling the nation about these matters and for GPs to have all that information to have those discussions with people who have concerns."
In other words, the government believes transparency is key.
And it has gone further, responding to calls for more information about the rollout by disclosing new daily and weekly data to be released about the number of COVID-19 vaccines administered.
It is also updating vaccine consent forms to reflect clotting as a side effect.
Leading vaccine communication expert Professor Julie Leask, from the University of Sydney, said changes to the vaccine schedule would have a "noticeable" impact on vaccine confidence for all age groups.
"There's been a lot of confusion about where to get the vaccine and this is an opportunity to reset and renew the communication," she said.
ABC News: Brendan Esposito
)She said the changes needed to be properly communicated, especially to vaccine providers, culturally and linguistically diverse populations and Indigenous communities.
"These groups need to be across why these changes are being made so they can advise the people in their communities," she said.
President of the Rural Doctors of Australia Dr John Hall said the government was right to be transparent with the community about the potential risks of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
"But unfortunately, with this type of messaging, the net effect is going to be vaccine hesitancy and the risk with this complication is so extremely low when you compare it to the risks that we routinely use in the community," he said.
"It's another spanner in the works of the vaccine rollout across the country through GPs in rural and remote areas."
Dr Hall said the biggest concern was that Australians over 50 would become hesitant to get the AstraZeneca vaccine, even though it was deemed "safe and effective".
Doctors said part of the problem was explaining to people that the type of clots seen with the AstraZeneca vaccine were different to normal blood clots.
It's believed the brain blood clots may be caused by an immune response to the AstraZeneca vaccine, and is not the same process that causes other more common types of clots like deep vein thrombosis.
Geriatrician Dr Kate Gregorevic said she has had to explain the difference to her older patients.
"I am having so many conversations with older adults who are concerned because they have things like atrial fibrillation and are concerned about risks," she said.
"Dispelling this takes work."
She said she was confident recommending the AstraZeneca vaccine to people aged over 50.
"For people who are older, the risk of dying after catching COVID far outweighs the risk of developing the clot disorder," she said.
Experts are hoping the blip in the vaccine rollout won't lead to a large number of people deciding not to get a vaccine.
They said getting as many people vaccinated as possible was the key to returning to normal.
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2021-04-09 19:48:28Z
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