Originally Posted by
Foxxster
to have their second shot of Astra…
I have to say the whole AstraZeneca thing has been and continues to be an utter farce. Every country seems to have its own age cutoff, I understand everyone over 18 is having it in Germany.
If there was widespread community transmission in Australia everyone would be having it here too. This is simply a by-product of the fact there is no significant community transmission in Australia, therefore the risk of complications from AZ currently exceeds the risk from COVID.
Two deaths from some 3.6 million doses administered, while tragic for those concerned, is inconsequential from a public health perspective, particularly when compared to the risk from a significant COVID outbreak. ATAGI has basically looked at the numbers and said, as things CURRENTLY stand in Australia, the risk of complications from AZ for those under-60 exceeds the risk of catching novel coronavirus and subsequently suffering severe health consequences.
If there was a large scale outbreak in Australia, similar to those overseas, the public health advice would change again in line with the risk of morbidity from COVID and once people understood the relative risk they'd be lined up for whatever they could get.