The Commonwealth Department of Health has released a range of updates.
These include:
- The TGA has extended the approved storage period of the unopened thawed Pfizer vaccine from five days up to one month. Details can be found on the TGA website. There has been interest in GP administration of the Pfizer vaccine. Pfizer will be initially administered through a number of GP Respiratory Clinics, with plans to extend administration to general practice later in the year when more supplies are available.
- Primary care vaccination sites may transfer AstraZeneca vaccines from one participating vaccination site to another, provided both sites agree to the transfer and vaccine cold chain integrity is maintained during transport. Read more here.
- The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation has released a statement on Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS) and the use of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca. This reaffirms that for people aged 50 years and over, the advice is that receiving the vaccine outweighs the risk of this rare but serious side-effect.
- GP Talking point resources about talking to patients about the AstraZenica vaccine.
Thanks to those members who have provided feedback about their experiences with the vaccination rollout. We continue to welcome your comments which are invaluable in informing our ongoing engagement and advocacy. These can be provided to j.johnson@acrrm.org.au.