In Saturday’s statement,ATAGI said another reason for the changed advice was the emerging evidence that the Delta outbreak in Sydney “may be more severe” than the original coronavirus strain,demonstrated by an apparently higher hospitalisation rate among people under 60.

“This reinforces the benefit of protection with any available vaccine,” the expert group said,and called for anyone taking the AstraZeneca vaccine to monitor for symptoms ofthrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) as early detection would improve their health outcomes.

It is not clear that the changed advice will turn around public perceptions of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Professor Raina MacIntyre,head of the biosecurity program at the University of NSW’s Kirby Institute,described AstraZeneca as a “less effective” vaccine in an article inThe Weekend Australian on Saturday.

That prompted former deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworthto tweet that he would write to UNSW’s vice-chancellor and the Kirby Institute’s director on Monday to “ask why one of their academics” used that phrase about the vaccine.

At a press conference on Saturday,Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd confirmed an extra 50,000 Pfizer doses would be delivered to NSW this week. He also said the vaccine rollout had now passed 11 million doses delivered and “the rollout is going really well”.

“We have plenty of AstraZeneca available and of course people considering that under the age of 60 need to be informed of the benefits and risks and provide informed consent,” Professor Kidd said.

“We are continuing to encourage people to come out,we need mass numbers of people to come out and get vaccinated.”

Apology

An article published in The Sydney Morning Herald online on July 24 entitled “ATAGI urges allSydney adults to strongly consider AstraZeneca in updated advice” reported that former deputychief medical officer Nick Coatsworth intended to complain to UNSW’s vice-chancellor and theKirby Institute’s director in the wake of a single comment by Professor Raina MacIntyre,headof the biosecurity program at the University of NSW’s Kirby Institute,that AstraZeneca was a“less effective” vaccine.It then quoted from an opinion piece published by Dr Coatsworth in the Herald the day before.This opinion piece did not name Professor MacIntyre and the Herald sincerely regrets anysuggestion from the placement of this quote in the subsequent article that Professor MacIntyrehas acted dishonestly in expressing her comment about the AstraZeneca vaccine. Itapologises for any hurt and damage to her esteemed academic and professional reputation thishas caused.

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