Government vaccine advice 'confusing': Medical professionals
Sydney medical professionals believe the government's Covid-19 vaccine messaging is 'confusing' residents.
Sydney GP Dr Ken McCroary and Federal MP Dr Mike Freelander say the Prime Minister's recent announcement that the AstraZeneca vaccine is available to anyone under 60 has further convoluted the rollout.
Dr McCroary said the 'conflicting' messaging from the media and the government left patients unsure about the vaccine.
"On Tuesday morning we had non-stop calls to the clinic from people asking for the Pfizer vaccine - I am not sure why that was what was taken away from the press conference," he said.
"Once we told them that Pfizer had not arrived at any GP clinic in Australia yet... but we had plenty of AstraZeneca, a lot chose not to go ahead with the vaccine.
"Of the very small percentage who said 'I'll get that one then, because I just want something', a lot of them called back the next day saying they had spoken to their kids, or their specialist, or someone who had told them not to go ahead with the vaccine because it is unsafe.
"People are driven more by what the media is reporting than actual health advice."
Prime Minister Scott Morrison also announced a no-fault indemity scheme for doctors who give patients under the age of 60 the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The vaccine has been linked to several cases of rare blood clots in people who have received the jab.
The Prime Minister encouraged people to talk to their GP to make a 'risk-based decision' in a press conference on Monday night.
"If you wish to get the AstraZeneca vaccine we would encourage you to go and have that discussion, we have already made announcements to support those additional consultations with the GP so you can have that conversation," he said .
"We are also providing the indemnity scheme for those general practitioners so they can actively engage with you and you can make the best decision for your health."
Dr Freelander said the Prime Minister's intervention had 'done nothing but confuse everyone, and is in direct conflict to the health advice'.
"It is critically important that we raise public confidence in our immunisation program," the former paediatrician said.
"At present it does appear that the government's messaging is conflicting, and I can certainly understand people's confusion as a result of this."
Dr Freelander said it was Mr Morrison's 'job' to fix quarantine and ensure the vaccination program ran smoothly.
"At present, we are falling woefully behind," he said.
"Shifting the focus to medical indemnity at the same time as promoting an immunisation program is a very poor way to go about encouraging public confidence in the vaccine.
"The Prime Minister has exercised very poor judgement on this issue."
Dr McCroary said more focus should be placed on the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines.
"We should be talking about the people who attended that West Hoxton party and did not contract [COVID-19] because they had been vaccinated," he said.
"All of the doctors in my clinic, who are aged between 30-50, chose to get the AstraZeneca vaccine so we could show our patients that it is safe.
"Get information from a trusted health professional.
"People who can be vaccinated, should get vaccinated as soon as they can."
Dr Freelander, who has already received his two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, urged residents to follow ATAGI (Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation) advice
"They are still not recommending AstraZeneca for people under 40 years of age," he said.
"Australia is significantly lagging behind the developed world (in the vaccine rollout), this puts us at risk of further outbreaks and means that we will not be able to open our communities up as quickly as the rest of the developed world.
"Having said that, we have extremely good public health resources, and if we continue to follow the health advice we will ultimately get through this. I remain optimistic about the future."