FEARS over one of the two vaccines in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus has been dismissed by government authorities in Canberra.
Australia will not halt administering AstraZeneca over precautionary concerns that it carried side effects including blood clots and abnormal bleeding.
ACT Minister for Health Rachel Stephen-Smith is continuing to back the advice from the nation’s Therapeutic Goods Administration for the rollout to continue.
“There is no evidence that the AstraZeneca vaccine is directly related to blood clots or any of those issues,” Ms Stephen-Smith told ABC Canberra radio on Tuesday (March 16).
“The action taken by those few European countries are very precautionary.”
A handful of isolated doses went awry recently in Norway that has caused 10 EU nations such as Germany, France and Italy to postpone further distribution of the vaccine until investigative reviews could prove that AstraZeneca did not promote adverse health effects.
Federal backbencher Matt Canavan broke government ranks on Monday and suggested that Australia’s medical regulator should follow EU health authorities and postpone the jabs.
But Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the World Health Organization has found no evidence of confirming a link between cases of clotting and AstraZeneca.
Britain has issued about 17 million inoculations and are yet to record any side affects.
Australian chief medical officer Paul Kelly released a statement over AstraZeneca remaining a “safe” and “effective” high-quality vaccine.
Ms Stephen-Smith said she understands the concerns of Canberra residents and that ACT Health will carefully monitor ongoing updates on the vaccine.
“There are underlying health issues right across the community, and so it is not surprising that some people will have a health issue that emerges that isn’t related to the vaccine,” she said.
“It’s really important to monitor these things and to do very quick and very thorough assessments.”
No concerns have been raised over the Pfizer vaccine that was issued in Australia weeks earlier than AstraZeneca.
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