The COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Australia has begun

[Seat0B]

Work colleague in Brisbane saw his GP on Wednesday with a view to getting AZ, aged 45.
He told him to wait for Pfizer and despite no history of problems in his family he said they’ll have Pfizer in 4 or 5 weeks so might as well wait until then.

He also said it’s pointless signing up to the QLD government website for getting Pfizer. They simply won’t respond.

Seat Daughter (34) in Canberra asked her GP about AZ this week and was told that as she has a Pfizer booking for second week of September to just stick with that as she will be fully vaccinated faster this way than taking AZ and waiting.

 

[mviy]

Seat Daughter (34) in Canberra asked her GP about AZ this week and was told that as she has a Pfizer booking for second week of September to just stick with that as she will be fully vaccinated faster this way than taking AZ and waiting.

The problem is though that if everyone waits it’ll slow down the rollout. Someone taking AZ now will be fully vaccinated by early November which is before we will reach the key vaccination target of 80%, and free up doses of Pfizer/Moderna for others

She could have had the first AZ dose well over a month ago so clearly wasn’t rushing to consider the AZ option.

 

[Seat0B]

The problem is though that if everyone waits it’ll slow down the rollout. Someone taking AZ now will be fully vaccinated by early November which is before we will reach the key vaccination target of 80%, and free up doses of Pfizer/Moderna for others

Tend to agree with you

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Today's update is up.

https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2021/08/covid-19-vaccine-rollout-update-8-august-2021.pdf

 

[Flying mermaid]

Today's update is up.

https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2021/08/covid-19-vaccine-rollout-update-8-august-2021.pdf

Rushing off to look - my daily excitement

 

[louie-m]

In pretty much every state and territory, the % of 95+ year olds vaccinated is lower than any other age group over 70. Does anyone know why that is?

The only thing I can think of is the total numbers over 95 is lower in reality than the total figures being used because some have popped their clogs since they were last counted. So the denominator being used is too high. Sounds a bit weak though.

 

[Flying mermaid]

The problem is though that if everyone waits it’ll slow down the rollout. Someone taking AZ now will be fully vaccinated by early November which is before we will reach the key vaccination target of 80%, and free up doses of Pfizer/Moderna for others

She could have had the first AZ dose well over a month ago so clearly wasn’t rushing to consider the AZ option.

But given that she didn’t it was the correct advice. ACT is doing 12 weeks for AZ and 3 for Pfizer. If she used AZ last week, she wouldn’t be fully vaccinated until well into November. Getting Pfizer in mid September sees her fully vaccinated in early October, which is actually better for our fully vaccinated drive. It won’t be long now and supply issues will cease to be an issue and we can fully vaccinate more quickly. Given ACT hasn’t had a case in 13 months (touch lots of wood), there isn’t any change to shorter periods for AZ.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

In pretty much every state and territory, the % of 95+ year olds vaccinated is lower than any other age group over 70. Does anyone know why that is?

The only thing I can think of is the total numbers over 95 is lower in reality than the total figures being used because some have popped their clogs since they were last counted. So the denominator being used is too high. Sounds a bit weak though.

May be because much of this is a digital access booking system and 95+ will as a proportion have less digital access.

 

[Flying mermaid]

In pretty much every state and territory, the % of 95+ year olds vaccinated is lower than any other age group over 70. Does anyone know why that is?

The only thing I can think of is the total numbers over 95 is lower in reality than the total figures being used because some have popped their clogs since they were last counted. So the denominator being used is too high. Sounds a bit weak though.

I thought it might be a combination of health issues, or lack of someone to give consent if there is dementia. One of my aunts (the only one still living out of a family of 13), is 101. She never married or had children and drifted away from most of the family. She has dementia now and about 7 years ago, my brother took responsibility for her and moved her out of the flat she was living in, into a home. I wonder if there aren’t others like her, who just have no one to care, or sign consent forms?

 

[mviy]

We need to be using up AZ supplies now as it’ll become harder to convince people to take it the sooner they think they can Pfizer/Moderna. Anyone taking AZ now and waiting the full 12 weeks would still be expected to be fully vaccinated before we hit the 80% figure to start to open up.

 

[Flying mermaid]

140,000 on a Saturday - I can remember when that was a good total for a weekday

 

[Must...Fly!]

We need to be using up AZ supplies now as it’ll become harder to convince people to take it the sooner they think they can Pfizer/Moderna. Anyone taking AZ now and waiting the full 12 weeks would still be expected to be fully vaccinated before we hit the 80% figure to start to open up.

I sympathize with your passion for this, but if people are taking considered advice from their GP and they decide to wait, then there is nothing more to be done. It's clear many are opting for AZ which is great.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

140,000 on a Saturday - I can remember when that was a good total for a weekday

Yes, and more GPs as well as Pharmacist now vaccinating on Saturday and hopefully Sunday too.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Yes, and more GPs as well as Pharmacist now vaccinating on Saturday and hopefully Sunday too.

With almost 14 million doses now given, that is now just over 25% of the doses that need to be given for everyone (including children which we do not have a suitable vaccine for) to have received to be fully vaccinated.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Sounds like antibody treatments will be part of the coughnal as soon as the TGA gets around to stamping the piece of paper

New early COVID-19 treatment secured: Hunt

The Therapeutic Goods Administration is assessing a new antibody treatment to tackle the early stages of COVID-19, federal Health Minister Greg Hunt says.

www.perthnow.com.au

 

[jakeseven7]

I won’t even listen to her anymore she makes me so angry. I listened to the first part of the QLD presser and turned it off as soon as she came on

Got to keep the Pfizer cheques rolling in

 

[tgh]

Mate of mine , locked down in sidderney somewhat pithily called her Billy McMahons daughter..
I responded that I thought that was a bit unfair..to one of them…..

 

[lovetravellingoz]

The problem is though that if everyone waits it’ll slow down the rollout. Someone taking AZ now will be fully vaccinated by early November which is before we will reach the key vaccination target of 80%, and free up doses of Pfizer/Moderna for others

She could have had the first AZ dose well over a month ago so clearly wasn’t rushing to consider the AZ option.

Exactly.

What some of these GP's are clearly not factoring in is that the more people that get vaccinated now, the sooner the whole nation will reach an acceptable vaccination level.

The vaccination program needs to be regarded as a community program and not a program for individuals.

Lastly some must have crystal balls enabling them to know that outbreaks will not occur in their locality.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Vic to open up AZ to anyone over 18. The State Run Hubs will have on site GP's that they will consult with prior to getting their vaccination.

Victorians under 40 to access AstraZeneca vaccine at state run centres from tomorrow​

Victorians aged under 40 will now be able to access the AstraZeneca vaccine at state run centres from tomorrow.​

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The Victorian Government says the expanded access follows recent advice from ATAGI.​

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Authorities say Astra Zeneca will still be available to 18 to 39 year olds at participating GP and medical centres.​

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Vic to also commence operation of a "drive through" vaccination clinic. People will be vaccinated in their car.

Victoria soft-launches Australia's first drive-through vaccination clinic​

"You book, you drive up, roll down your window, roll up your sleeve, get a jab, it's that easy," health official Naomi Bromley said.​

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"This is a fantastic addition to our existing state infrastructure. It will be a really good and convenient, simple, safe way for Victorians to get vaccinated.​

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"This first site is at a former Bunnings Warehouse location in Melton. It's at 149 Barries Road and it's operated by Westin Health.​

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"Now, the site has been soft launched today. Invitation only, but from tomorrow, it will be open to bookings so, please, jump online, have a look for some of those bookings opening up in Melton and from tomorrow we'll be welcoming people through for that drive-through model."​

It was just reported on the evening news that the Victorian State Hubs following this morning's announcement have had a surge in bookings this afternoon and are now fully till the end of August.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Exactly.

What some of these GP's are clearly not factoring in is that the more people that get vaccinated now, the sooner the whole nation will reach an acceptable vaccination level.

The vaccination program needs to be regarded as a community program and not a program for individuals.

Lastly some must have crystal balls enabling them to know that outbreaks will not occur.

Well given this advice was given in Canberra where there hasn’t been an outbreak in 13 months, I really don’t blame the GP. I know an outbreak could happen here tomorrow, especially as pesky people from Sydney keep trying to travel here, but it wasn’t a bad call.

I think people are losing sight of the fact that we are getting masses of mRNA vaccine starting September and escalating in October. I totally support giving AZ in places like Sydney and Melbourne where there are bad (or potentially bad) outbreaks and in Sydney they have drastically cut the wait time between AZ shots. But if we took it to extremes and said everyone over the next two months got AZ and we reverted to 12 weeks between shots, we are looking at January to hit the fully vaccinated target. Whereas someone getting an mRNA shot in early October is fully vaccinated by the end of October.

So to meet my extremely optimistic target of 80% fully vaccinated by early November, we need mRNA or to cut the gap between AZ shots. Lots of AZ and a 12 week gap is going to see it drag out…..I don’t know what Victoria is doing as a gap between AZ shots?

Pharmacists in the ACT will start vaccinating this week with AZ and while that’s great it will definitely slow down our fully vaccinated quest. You just have to look at our stats vs Tas and NT. They are using much more Pfizer (presumably for younger indigenous), so their fully vaccinated is ahead of ours even though first jabs are the same or better.