Bendigo Health consultant reassures safety of AstraZeneca jab

The centre is averaging about 800 coronavirus vaccination appointments each day and has the capacity to jab up to 1000 people.

Bendigo Health infectious diseases consultant Andrew Mahony hopes the return of walk-in AstraZeneca jabs will prove popular.

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"We have the supply to welcome walk-in appointments until the end of the month and we hope people will take it up," Dr Mahony said.

"We know the potential risks for AstraZeneca and how to plan for them. It's been given to many millions of people and stopped them from getting COVID-19 severely. From that perspective, AstraZeneca has been a Godsend."

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation recommendation last week recommended the AstraZeneca vaccine should only be given to those aged 60 and older - previously it was recommended to those aged 50 and over.

The change came after a second Australian, a 52-year-old woman, died after developing a rare case of blood clots associated with the vaccine.

Dr Mahony said the end result of having the vaccine far outweighed the risk.

"We have to ask ourselves, do we want to remain in lockdown or do we want to be out and about without restrictions?" he said.

"There has been a focus on the risk of AstraZeneca. The bottom line is the risks are extremely small and we don't have enough Pfizer to vaccinate the population, more supply is months away.

"The Australian medical industry has been very vigilant in looking at all the risks associated with AstraZeneca and that is why the age changed last week.

"There has been two deaths in Australia because of the AstraZeneca vaccine but in other countries there have also been deaths associated with Pfizer.

"We know when people have the second dose of Pfizer there are more side effects felt in 20 per cent of people. There are still side effects of AstraZeneca, but generally with the second dose there are a lot less.

"It's wrong to look at only these risks. When taking new medication, there are always risks and the same applies when having a vaccine."

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Bendigo Health called for the federal government to ramp up the roll-out of coronavirus vaccination supply on Monday after calculating the Mollison Street Mass Vaccination Centre only has enough doses to cover bookings for the next 10 days.

Dr Mahony said the restocking of the Pfizer vaccine could be months away for the nation and encouraged those eligible for the AstraZeneca vaccine not to hesitate in rolling up their sleeves.

"There is a priority for the vaccine in countries like India where the need is more," he said.

"Australia's population is 25-30 million people and overseas there are billions of people who need the vaccine to save lives. We're lucky that we're not in that situation.

"At the moment, we're waiting for Pfizer to be produced and then to arrive in Australia but we are behind other countries.

"The only way to not have Covid in the community and to not have the risk of infection or infecting others is to have everyone vaccinated. We need as many people as possible to be vaccinated."

Bendigo Health is urging people to register to receive their vaccination via bendigohealth.org.au/COVID19vaccine

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