Live captioning by Ai-Media >> Good morning and welcome again to the
Top Three.
We are here this morning to give you a new update.
Today we are reminding everyone of the importance of keeping
up-to-date with all the current information about COVID-19 and
about the COVID vaccine rollout program.
It is very important we ask you to go to a reliable source of
information, so either go to the state and territory you are in,
they Health Department website, or to health.gov.au, which is the
Commonwealth website which will give you the most reliable
information about COVID-19 and about the vaccine rollout.
>> First question – I'm booked in for my first dose of AstraZeneca
COVID-19 vaccine and I'm under 60.
What do I do?
>> As we know, last week, based on the current evidence, ATAGI made
the recommendation to government that we change the type of vaccine
recommended for the 50 to 59-year-olds.
If you have an appointment for AstraZeneca and you are 50 to 59,
you can now change that appointment to a Pfizer vaccine.
Effective immediately, 1300 Commonwealth vaccine clinics are
now offering the Pfizer vaccine to 50 to 59-year-olds and from 5 July,
GP clinics across the country will be again offering the Pfizer
vaccine to 50 to 50-year-olds.
We ask you to be patient.
As you know, many people are really keen to get the vaccine and
we are getting to us any people as we can as quickly as we can.
-- 59-year-olds.
If you have any questions, of course ask a health professional or
your general practitioner about your choice of vaccine.
>> Second question – I'm over 60.
Why is the AstraZeneca vaccine OK for me to have but not someone
younger.
>> When we look around decisions, we look at many aspects.
We do know the incidence of thrombus with thrombocytopenia
syndrome of this TTS condition or you may know better as blood clots
does present much more frequently in the older age group than in
younger people.
For people 60 and over, the benefit of the vaccine in
protecting against severe disease and death is much greater
protection than if you were to get COVID-19 virus, the chances of you
getting severe disease or dying is much, much higher than the risk of
any side effects from the AstraZeneca vaccine.
So we do suggest, if you have got any concerns, do talk to your
general practitioner, but again, it is really important to understand
that the vaccine is the best protection for you against COVID-19,
which does have severe outcomes of disease and death.
>> And finally, I've had my first dose of AstraZeneca and have side
effects that I'm worried about.
What should I do?
>> For most vaccines including AstraZeneca, the symptoms after
your vaccine are quite mild, usually of pain at the injection
site, headache, fever, chills.
These are short-term side effects and resolve pretty quickly.
The syndrome that I have mentioned, thrombus with thrombocytopenia
syndrome or TTS, manifests usually between days four to 28 after the
first AstraZeneca vaccine.
The symptoms are a really severe headache, not being able to be
managed with painkillers, sometimes blurred vision, dizziness, nausea
and vomiting.
If you have any of those symptoms, we recommend you seek medical
attention immediately.
If you do not have these symptoms, but you are still feeling a little
unsure, do ask a health professional or seek some advice if
you are concerned.
Again, thank you for joining us at Top Three this morning and I hope
you have a great day.
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