Message from the Publisher: An unnecessary drama

5 July 2021

It is clear that the supply of Pfizer to Australia is limited before October 2021. There is a need to have more Australians fully vaccinated as quickly as possible in facing the challenge of the highly contagious Delta strain of Covid-19. The Prime Minister had made a correct decision in allowing Australians under 40 to have AstraZeneca if they were fully informed about the risk and would be willing to take it. The federal government would protect general practitioners who would vaccinate the young people at this moment with AstraZeneca.

The advice became political when ATAGI insisted on their pre-Delta advice on the preference of Pfizer over AstraZeneca for those under 60. ATAGI did not support vaccinating those under the 60s  with AstraZeneca now. It also refused to suggest the young people will still be better if they were not vaccinated in the coming few months and with Covid-19 bursting in Australia under the attack of the Delta strain. State jurisdictions used this opportunity to press for a reduction of international arrivals to Australia.

State jurisdictions won by having the number of weekly intake of arrivals reduced by half. Young people still have their choice of receiving AstraZeneca from GPs who wanted to protect them from contracting Covid-19. The Prime Minister on Friday proposed a vague four-phase plan to post-Covid recovery which temporarily stopped the confusion caused by the debates from the various parties.

Understandably, the decision by governments is driven by the political advantages of politicians. However, we need to examine the advice by ATAGI, being the professionals advising the government and the public through scientific knowledge. The advice by ATAGI in comparing the risk of dying from taking AstraZeneca with not taking it and dying from contracting Covid-19 in Australia for those younger than 60 is inadequate because of the low contraction rate of Covid-19 at pre-Delta Australia. If Delta has broken through the barrier and exploded in Australia as in the UK, the advice from ATAGI will have changed immediately.

Obviously, medical experts are not necessarily experts in risk management. Covid-19 pandemic is beyond the experiences of everybody. We should wait and see how the scenario will change.

Raymond Chow

Publisher, Blessing CALD