Aussies who got first AstraZeneca Covid job urged to proceed with second dose

Australians who have had their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine should still proceed with their second, despite the government raising the recommended minimum age from 50 to 60 yesterday, officials say.




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Health Minister Greg Hunt says Australians who have had their first dose of AstraZeneca should follow through with their second.

Health Minister Greg Hunt and Australian Medical Association (AMA) President Dr Omar Khorshid both repeated the plea this morning, advising Aussies the jab is safe and effective.

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“I want to send a very clear message that if you have had your first dose of AstraZeneca, all the medical advice is to please come forward and have your second,” Mr Hunt said on Today.

“It’s exactly what I did. It’s what Brendan Murphy did, Julia Gillard, who joined us for the initial vaccination.

“It will help protect you and it will help protect everybody else.”

The AstraZeneca vaccine has been administered more than half a billion times around the world, with four million of those doses in Australia.

Of those four million, just 60 blood clotting incidents have so far been reported, and from those, two deaths.

“For us to have (people aged) 60 and over is a very cautious position, but that same medical advisory group – which I think is arguably the equal of any in the world – says second doses are absolutely critical and that they are fundamentally safe,” Mr Hunt said.

Video: New AstraZeneca age recommendation only a ‘minor change’ (Sky News Australia)

New AstraZeneca age recommendation only a ‘minor change’

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“You have a lot of people now in their 50s this morning waking up going, ‘Hang on, I did the right thing, now I’m being told to have the AstraZeneca second jab but people under 60 shouldn’t have it’, that’s the issue you will be dealing with.

“I do understand that. But the very clear evidence, based medical advice which the technical advisory group on immunisation put out yesterday… it’s in your interests, it’s in the national interest, to please come forward.”

Dr Khorshid said that it’s the second dose that provides people with long-term immunity, particularly to mutant strains of COVID-19 such as the Delta variant.

“It is required in particular for this Delta strain that’s now out and about throughout the world,” Dr Khorshid told Today.

“The first dose was pretty good for a lot of the other strains, but you need two doses of both our vaccines in order to be immune to the Delta.”

He said that although it is possible to follow the AstraZeneca vaccine with a Pfizer dose, it is not advised due to the potential side effects.

“The data on that is very limited and does seem to cause quite a lot of local reactions, headaches and fevers and so on, more than we’re seeing with AZ,” he said.

“As I said before, the very clear recommendation from all the experts is get your second dose, no matter what age you are, no matter which vaccine you had. Your second dose is absolutely critical.”

Mr Hunt said a further 2.8 million units of the Pfizer vaccine will become available in July, which will increase the current 300,000 jabs being administered per week to over 600,000 a week.

Source: Thanks msn.com