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Katie Woolf spoke with Senator Sam McMahon · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Mix one O four point nine's three sixty.
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  Speaker 1: Now the Senator for the Northern Territory, doctor Sam McMahon,
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  Speaker 1: is calling on the Gunner Labor government to halt the
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  Speaker 1: astrosenica vaccine for people under the age of fifty. I
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  Speaker 1: think we all know it's certainly been well documented over
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  Speaker 1: the last couple of days that there are some concerns
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to the astrosenica vaccine and blood clotting.
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  Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line is the Senator for
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory, doctor Sam McMahon. Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, good morning, Katie, and then good morning to your listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Senator, why exactly do you think that this vaccine needs
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  Speaker 1: to be halted entirely for those under the age of fifty.
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  Speaker 2: Because we've got good evidence, Katie that there is a
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  Speaker 2: very small risk. But it is a risk for people
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  Speaker 2: under the age of fifty, particularly women, to have a
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  Speaker 2: reaction to this vaccine which causes blood plotting, and in
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  Speaker 2: approximately sixty percent of cases that reaction is fatal. So
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  Speaker 2: it's only small risk, but the consequences are extremely high.
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  Speaker 1: Would this be going against the advice of the Health
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  Speaker 1: Minister Greg hunt, No, not at all.
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  Speaker 2: The advice from the federal government is that particularly people
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  Speaker 2: under fifty should consider which vaccine they have and should
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  Speaker 2: opt for the fires of vaccine. So the federal government
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  Speaker 2: advice is that people under fifty should have the fires
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  Speaker 2: of vaccine, not the astrosenica.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, is that, though, what the territory Health Minister
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  Speaker 1: and what the territory government is really advising at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: No, no, and k I was really shocked to learn
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  Speaker 2: that they hadn't in fact followed the federal government advice
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  Speaker 2: as several of the states have done, and that they're
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  Speaker 2: still happily rolling out Astrosenka to anyone and everyone, and
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  Speaker 2: they've given no advice to the public about it, and
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  Speaker 2: they've done nothing about ceasing, suspending, or changing their vaccine rollout.
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  Speaker 2: And then we learn late late yesterday that there's a
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  Speaker 2: woman in Royal Dalen Hospital at the moment who's been
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  Speaker 2: there for a couple of weeks, that they haven't even
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  Speaker 2: alerted the public to the fact that we've got another
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  Speaker 2: case in Australia of this plotting disorder as a result
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  Speaker 2: of the vaccine.
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  Speaker 1: My understanding is that and I spoke to the Health
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  Speaker 1: Minister Natasha Files yesterday, is that my understanding is that
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  Speaker 1: when you go in for a vaccine, if you are
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  Speaker 1: under the age of fifty, that obviously you are liaising
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  Speaker 1: or speaking with you GP about what the best option
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  Speaker 1: is for you, and that if you are somebody who
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  Speaker 1: feels quite comfortable and safe taking the Astrosenka vaccine, then
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  Speaker 1: that is still an option. I mean, is it a
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  Speaker 1: situation here where territory and should have the opportunity to
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  Speaker 1: really make that decision themselves, or are you saying that
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  Speaker 1: we just need to take Astroseneka off the table entirely
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  Speaker 1: for those under the age of fifty.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I think we should be responsible and take
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  Speaker 2: it off the table entirely for that at risk group.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, yes, I'm all for informed consent and people
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  Speaker 2: should be able to make a choice about their health,
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  Speaker 2: but they also need to be given all the information.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, if you're told that yes, there is
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  Speaker 2: a risk that you are going to die if you
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  Speaker 2: have a reaction to this vaccine, or we can give
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  Speaker 2: you another vaccine where there is no known risk, you know,
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  Speaker 2: of course, which one are you going to go for?
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  Speaker 2: You know, if anyone's explained that I'm sure no one
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  Speaker 2: would go for Astrazeneka, they'd go for Fizer.
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  Speaker 1: Senator, has the illness or the lady being in transported
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  Speaker 1: to Royal Dale and Hospital yesterday afternoon with the blood
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  Speaker 1: clot Is that what's prompted you to make this call?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Katie, I did not realize that the anti government
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  Speaker 2: that sort of hadn't followed suits with the Australia, the
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  Speaker 2: federal government and several other states and was still sort
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  Speaker 2: of happily telling everyone that Astrosenka was safe. I didn't
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  Speaker 2: realize until I looked into it with this latest case
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  Speaker 2: that they hadn't made that information available to the public.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, that's definitely what prompted me to come out
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  Speaker 2: and say the anti government should be acting responsibly and
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  Speaker 2: at least warning people and probably looking at halting or
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  Speaker 2: at least pausing their role out of Astrasenica.
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  Speaker 1: Senator, are you concerned about what could see some pretty
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  Speaker 1: massive delays I would suspect around Australia, but even here
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  Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory with the halting of that vaccine.
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  Speaker 1: Are you concerned about the delays that we will see.
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  Speaker 2: No, not at all, Kadie, because we don't have any
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  Speaker 2: community transmission. Now, if we were in Europe or the
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  Speaker 2: United States, for example, then yes, that would be a
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  Speaker 2: concern because your risk of dying from contracting COVID far
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  Speaker 2: outweighs your risk of having a reaction to the vaccine.
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  Speaker 2: But in Australia, and certainly in the Northern Territory, where
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  Speaker 2: we have zero community transmission, you have you know, you
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  Speaker 2: currently have no risk of contracting COVID, so we can
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  Speaker 2: afford We're in a lucky position. We can afford to wait.
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  Speaker 2: We can afford to give people the safest option possible,
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  Speaker 2: and that's what we should be doing.
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  Speaker 1: Senator, what about out to those remote communities and even
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  Speaker 1: some of our you know, our other town centers around
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  Speaker 1: the territory. We know that realistically with the astroseneca, if
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  Speaker 1: indeed we do take it off the table for those
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  Speaker 1: that are under the age of fifty, and then we
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  Speaker 1: obviously know with the phiza there are some issues with temperature.
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  Speaker 1: I know that some of the advice on keeping the
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  Speaker 1: fires a vaccine at those really low temperatures has changed
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  Speaker 1: to some degree. But do you reckon we're going to
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  Speaker 1: see some difficulties in terms of rolling it out to
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  Speaker 1: some of our more remote areas of the territory.
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  Speaker 2: Look fither definitely has some more logistical challenges in the
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  Speaker 2: temperature that it needs to be stored at, although they
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  Speaker 2: have come out just recently and said that it's fine
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  Speaker 2: to be stored for up to two weeks in a
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  Speaker 2: normal freezer. Now everywhere has freezers, so that's removed a
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  Speaker 2: lot of the logistical challenges that we thought we would
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  Speaker 2: have with it. So therefore I see no problem in
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  Speaker 2: rolling it out to even to very remote communities.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Senator Sam McMahon, we always appreciate your time. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you so very much for having a chat with me
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  Speaker 1: this morning.
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  Speaker 2: No worries, Thank you very much, Katie, thank you.
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  Speaker 1: That is the Senator for the Northern Territory. There, Doctor
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  Speaker 1: Sam McMahon, keen to hear your thoughts. Do you think
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  Speaker 1: that the astrosenica vaccine for those under the age of
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  Speaker 1: fifty should be taken off the table all together? Eight
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  Speaker 1: nine four one one oh four nine