A Liberal MP and former medical researcher has blamed scaremongering on the AstraZeneca jab for vaccine hesitancy among Australians - and singled out a government agency.
Hours after a third Australian's death was linked to AstraZeneca, Melbourne backbencher Katie Allen slammed the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation and also claimed media coverage of the vaccine was creating fear.
'I have to say the media has made very clear the side effects of AstraZeneca – they haven't made clear some of the other side effects of Pfizer in the same way,' she told the ABC's Q&A program on Thursday night.
A Liberal MP and former medical researcher has blamed scaremongering on the AstraZeneca jab for vaccine hesitancy among Australians - and singled out a government agency. Hours after a third Australian's death was linked to AstraZeneca, Melbourne backbencher Katie Allen (pictured) suggested media coverage of the vaccine was creating fear
Many Australians are reluctant to get an AstraZeneca dose and are instead waiting for Pfizer's Covid vaccine, which is in short supply until at least August.
In June, ATAGI recommended Pfizer instead of AstraZeneca be administered to those under 60.
Two months earlier, it had recommended Pfizer over AstraZeneca for those under 50, just days before a 48-year-old diabetic woman from the Central Coast, north of Sydney, died of a blood clot five days after taking AstraZeneca.
Dr Allen, the federal member for Higgins, was so annoyed about the advice on AstraZeneca she wrote to ATAGI, which makes recommendations to the Department of Health on vaccinates.
'I wrote to ATAGI and asked them to review their advice based on the changing situation internationally,' she said.
'I would have preferred that ATAGI said there is risk and warnings but not that you should not say it should not be administered.
'People understand now they can receive AstraZeneca in these other age categories.'
The risk of those under 50 getting a rare blood clot or TTS (Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome) from an AstraZeneca stands at three in 100,000, ATAGI said.
Many Australians are reluctant to get an AstraZeneca dose and are instead waiting for Pfizer's Covid vaccine, which is in short supply until at least August. In June, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation recommended Pfizer instead of AstraZeneca be administered to
