Live captioning provided by Ai- Media. >>Hello. My name is
Michael Kidd, and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer here at
the Australian Government Department of Health. Joining
me today is my friend Linda, who is signing Auslan for
viewers who are deaf and hard of hearing. Thank you, Linda. So my shout out
today is to everybody involved in our national COVID-19
vaccination rollout program. We have reached a really
important milestone today, with over 20 million doses of COVID-19
vaccines administered to people right across Australia.
And I want to say a huge thanks to everybody who has been
involved in this vaccine program, to the many nurses,
doctors, many other people involved in delivering the
vaccines, the people who are making sure that the vaccines
are being shipped around the country, the people driving the
trucks, everybody involved in this very major logistic exercise of
getting our nation vaccinated and protected against COVID-19.
Thank you to you all.
Our first question today is
around what is myocarditis or pericarditis and is it safe for
my teenage children to receive the Pfizer vaccine? You may
have heard in the media about myocarditis or pericarditis,
this is a very rare side effect which can sometimes occur
following people receiving the Pfizer vaccine.
Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle, pericarditis
is inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart.
And if you get either of these conditions, you may get
symptoms of chest pain, shortness of breath, or
palpitations, feeling your heart racing.
If you do get these symptoms it is very important to seek
urgent medical advice. So that it can be either
confirmed that you have this related to the vaccine, or it
may be due to some other underlying medical condition.
The good news is that most cases of myocarditis or
pericarditis which have been diagnosed around the world
following the Pfizer vaccine are mild and self-limiting.
The vast majority of people recover very quickly from these
symptoms with no ill effects. So it does reinforce the
importance, though, of vaccination.
We do see more cases of myocarditis in young men,
particularly under the age of 30.
And there have been some cases among teenage people around
the world as well. But what we also know is that
this condition can also be caused by COVID-19.
And it is actually far more likely that you may get this
condition if you are infected with COVID-19 than from the
vaccine. So it reinforces the importance
of our vaccine program protecting everybody in Australia.
So our second question is why
isn't the Pfizer vaccine available to everybody in
Australia? So as you are no doubt aware, the Australian
Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, ATAGI, has
provided recommendations to the Australian government about the
preferred vaccine for people of different ages.
The preferred vaccine for people aged 60 years and above
remains the AstraZeneca vaccine and we have seen very high
uptake of people aged 60 and above, and in fact we have more
than 87 percent of people in Australia aged over 70 who have
received at least a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, usually
the AstraZeneca vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine is the
preferred vaccine for those aged between 12 and 59 years of
age. We have opened up on Monday
this week access to the Pfizer vaccine for all young adults
between the age of 16 and 39. Indeed in some states and
territories young people already had access to the
Pfizer vaccine. And from 13 September we will
be opening up access to the Pfizer vaccine for children
aged between 12 and 15 years. And at the moment children aged
between 12 and 15 can receive the Pfizer vaccine if they are
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander children, if they have
a chronic health condition that puts them at increased risk of
COVID-19, if they are a participant in the national
disability insurance scheme, the NDIS, or if they live in
remote communities where we are vaccinating everyone in the
community on the same day. so that is where we sit at the moment with
the different groups of people receiving the vaccines by age group.
The most important thing, though, please get
vaccinated. Please join the many millions
of Australians who are now fully protected against serious
illness or death from COVID-19. Your third question today is
about people finding the restrictions and the lockdowns
are having a serious impact on their mental health.
This is obviously very concerning and also it is
normal to be feeling down, when you find yourself yet again in
many cases in lockdown or with restrictions on your life and
not being able to cross borders, not being able to be with loved
ones, not being able to celebrate special events,
having your business and your livelihood impacted, by the
lockdowns which have been in place.
For young people not being able to attend school, and be with your
friends and continue your education.
There are many people feeling not themselves, at the moment
right around Australia. So what can you do to boost
your own mental health and well being and that of your loved
ones, your family and your friends? Firstly it is really
important to have a good diet, to do some exercise every day
and to have a good sleep pattern.
And these are all things that all of us should be doing all
the time. And avoid some of the things
which cause problems to our mental health, things which
actually we might try to do to cope but which actually do not
help so much, such as smoking too much, drinking too much or
the use of other drugs. It can be really important to
reach out to other people, especially if you are feeling
isolated, as so many people are who are living under lockdown
conditions at the moment. Reach out to family members,
reach out to friends, and talk about how you are feeling and
ask them how they are feeling as well.
Try to do something every day which makes you feel happy,
something which means you feel good.
It may be taking a break, going outside, doing some exercise,
breathing in the fresh air, enjoying the spring flowers or
the spring weather right across Australia.
It might be reaching out to that special person in your
life and talking to them as well.
One of the things which can actually make you feel better
is actually helping someone else.
So reaching out to another person who you know is isolated
and finding out how they are doing and offering your support,
also can also make you feel a little better as well.
Some people, though, are experiencing significant mental
health challenges at this time. And if you find that you are
feeling excessively anxious or if you're feeling depressed,
losing interest in normal activities in life, having
trouble sleeping, losing your appetite, if this is happening
to you, please reach out for support.
You can go to the Australian Government website, Head to Health
and we have resources available to support your mental health. You can pick up the phone
and ring Beyond Blue or Lifeline or one of the other
online counselling services and talk to someone on the other
end of the phone about how you are feeling. Or if you are feeling particularly
depressed or anxious, please reach out to your trusted
health professional. To your general practitioner
or other health professional, and of course if
you're in lockdown, you can do this using telehealth.
Either by telephone or by video call with your trusted GP or
other healthcare professional. None of us need to feel that we
are alone during this time. This is a time of great
disruption in all of our lives.
So please, if you are feeling that your mental health is
being impacted, please reach out for support.
And that is our Top Three for today.
Thank you, everybody, and thank you, Linda.
Live captioning provided by Ai- Media.