Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with NT Executive Vaccine Lead Bhavini Patel about vaccine safety

Transcript

Katie spoke with NT Executive Vaccine Lead Bhavini Patel about vaccine safety · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, we have had a lot of discussion about the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: vaccine rollout and at the moment and those plans to
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: get to the eighty percent vaccination. Right now, joining me
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: on the line is Associate Professor Bavini Patel, the anti
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: executive vaccine lead.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Good morning to your Bavini.
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: Hi Katie, and hello to your listeners to now.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time this morning. I know that
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: we are fast approaching a key target with seventy percent
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: of Territorians set to be fully vaccinated this week, hopefully
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: early this week. How are the vaccine appointments looking for
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: this week following the announcement last week of the mandate.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, again, as always, we've had a really good response
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: from Territorians, those Territorians that haven't yet prioritized getting a vaccine,
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: So we had a big increase in bookings and also
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: walking visits to our vaccinate centers the day of the announcement,
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: and we've had a steady increase in bookings over the
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: last few days. So it's looking like people are taking
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: the opportunity to prioritize getting a vaccine and just to
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: let people know the vaccines available through quite a number
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: of different places. Now, so you can go to your
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: community pharmacist, you can go to a range of GPS
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: and also your Aboriginal medical service as well as their
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: anti vaccination centers around Darwin.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Now I understand that there did have to be some
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: changes to that vaccine form as a result of the mandate.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: What will those changes on those forms? See?
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: Can you just clarify, Katie, what do you mean by
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: which forms? People?
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: So the anti news is reporting that when people going
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: into obviously have that vaccine. Yesterday it was still saying
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: on the form that it was a voluntary vaccine, but
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: in some cases for a lot of people that's changed
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: if they are in a job where they need to
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: actually get it.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: Due to the mandate.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: So my understanding is based on that report this morning,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: that that form has had to have some changes.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Is that right?
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: That's not my understanding. So the form is is a
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: consent form where people are being advised of the risks
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: and benefits of the vaccine and a medical history and
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: a check to say that they haven't received the vaccine
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: in the past. So we don't, you know, inadvertently give
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: people a double dose. So so my understanding is that
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: form doesn't need to be changed. It's still you know,
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: people still need to give informed consent. They understand the
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: benefits and understand the short term side effects that people
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: are likely to feel after they if it received the vaccine.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Okay, because it is noted in the paper that the
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Health Minister has said that the form would be changed
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: to reflect the new mandatory COVID nineteen vaccination rules, she
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: said those forms will need to be updated to reflect
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: for some occupations, but that's around informed consent, so it's
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: not going to need a big change.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: Well, yes, as I said, I'll follow that up with
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: the Minister's office and really understand what the request is.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: From my perspective, the form that people are requested to
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: fill in is around understanding, you know, the person's details,
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: that we've got the right person, they haven't had a
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: similar vaccine before, and that we go through you know,
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: the monitoring and the side effects that people are likely
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: to experience after they've received the vaccine.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Okay, Now, Beravini, I've got to tell you yesterday we
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: had a lot of people getting coach with us here
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: at the station with questions. Some of them were quite
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: genuine concerns about getting the vaccine. Firstly, why is this
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: mandate so important from a health perspective.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: So we know that around the world and in New
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: South Wales and Victoria, that the delta strain of COVID
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: is highly contagious and COVID nineteen itself is a very
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: severe and life threatening disease, and the vaccine is an
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: opportunity for us individually and for our community to protect
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: ourselves from getting this severe disease. And so, like any
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: preventative measure, you know, prevention is always better than cure.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: So at the moment when people get sick with COVID nineteen,
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: some people need to be hospitalized, A proportion of people
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: might need intensity care treatment, including a breathing machine. And
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: we've seen the number of people dying right around the
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: world from this disease. And so it's important for us
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: to have the vaccine to protect ourselves and to stop
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: to stop vulnerable people like children under the age of
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: twelve who are not yet eligible for the disease, for
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: the vaccine, or people with you know, other vulnerabilities so
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: we can protect them against COVID nineteen as well.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Now, we had a call yesterday from Christian and he said,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: my wife is pregnant and is being told by some
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: health professionals she shouldn't.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Have the vaccine.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: What will she do on November thirteen when she can't
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: work in her industry. Is it likely medical professionals are
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: telling Christian's wife not to have the vaccine and what
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: would be the reason?
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, So I'm obviously if you're a listener, is an
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: advising that some medical that his wife has had some
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: advice from medical health professionals, then we need to take
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: that that feedback seriously. All of the medical specialties right
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: around the country have endorsed a target clinical advice, which
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: did change a few months ago. So the initial advice,
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: and this is where sometimes people can be can lead
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: to confusion. So when the vaccine first became available in Australia,
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: the advice was to delay vaccination and if you were
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: pregnant until we had real life data to absolutely confirm
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: that there was no potential issues either to the mother
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: or the child. And we now have that absolute surety
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: that the outcomes of COVID nineteen if you're pregnant significantly
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: you're at much higher risk. There was some studies that
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: came out of the England earlier this month which showed
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: that people who needed intensive care treatment. One in six
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: of those people needing the very highest level of intensive
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: care were pregnant. And we also know that if you
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: get COVID nineteen while you're pregnant, then you're much more
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: likely to have a negative outcome of your pregnancy, which
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: is something that we just don't want to see in
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: the territory. In terms of vaccinations, we now know there
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: was a study that came out in June which supported
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: the change in the advice of well over thirty five
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: thousand pregnant women in the US who had received the
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: vaccine either before they got pregnant or during their pregnancy,
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: and there was no safety concerns highlighted within that study,
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: and there was no difference in pregnancy outcomes for women
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: who had been vaccinated versus those who had not. So
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: that's thirty five thousand women who were pregnant, and the
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: advice has changed, and we're strongly recommending women who are
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: currently pregnant to get vaccinated and also advising that the
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: vaccine does not have any adverse events associated with your
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: fertility or your ability to conceive, as the studies have
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: shown today.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: Now, Bavinia, I'm very mindful of your time.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: I know that you've got another meeting to get to,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: and I've got a few other listener questions. I have
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: got one here that has asked about this person is
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: obviously going through IVF and has said that they're unsure
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: whether it's safe for them to be able to get
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: that vaccine or if it's going to interfere with the process.
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so I probably can't give individual advice, but again
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: there's to go and talk to your specialist or your
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: GP for your individual circumstances. But there's very few situations
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: where we are not recommending the vaccine, and they are
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: if you've got a specific allergy to the components of
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: the vaccine, if you've had one of the very low
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: likelihood of adverse events to the ASTROZENKA vaccine, and they
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: are really the only absolute contry indications, as we say,
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: to getting them vaccine. But it's safe in all medical conditions,
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: it's safe in pregnancy, it's safe in kids, and effective
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: for kids above the age of twelve, and we're just
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: waiting on data to be submitted to regulator for children
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: age five and above. So that's really exciting that that
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: age group potentially will also have the opportunity to be
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: vaccinated against this really severe and dangerous disease.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: Bevini.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: A question here from robb In Winelli. When is novovas
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: going to be available?
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there's been quite a lot of interest in novo vaccine.
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: So the TGA, who's our regulator in Australia, has approoved
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: the company to put in an application for it to
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: be used in Australia, but they've elected not to do
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: that to date, and so so really we're in the
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: hands of that particular company to put in an application
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: for that vaccine to be used in Australia, hy that
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: there may be a chance that they put it in
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: in some time in the future, but we've had no
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: confirmation that they will do and there's really I would
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: not be recommending people wait because we've got three vaccines
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: that are all safe and effective ready to be used
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: in the territory right now.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: Bavini.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: One of the biggest things that we hear people call
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: through on the phone lines saying to us and also
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: throughout the messages saying this is experimental. We don't know
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: what damage it's going to do to our bodies. What
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: would you say to those people listening who feel that
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: way right now?
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think this is a really important question
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: in terms of, you know, making sure that people or
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: understand the research rigor that's gone into preparing these vaccines.
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: People are maybe hearing from their social media feed that
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: is experimental, that these vaccines are not safe, that they're new,
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: but actually the technology behind these vaccines have been researched
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: well over twenty years. The end the message at RNA vaccines,
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: you know, there's been studies done for treatment of a
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: range of infections such as radis and zeta virus and influenza,
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: so they're not experimental. They've undergone all of the safety
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: and efficacy clinical trials and around the world over six
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: billion doses of these vaccines have been given, So if
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: you just think of that number is a huge number
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: of people who've had the vaccine. And there's been a
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: spotlight on the safety of the vaccines, as you're aware,
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: and there's nothing in the clinical data set for the
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: trials or the real world evidence showing that there's any
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: safety concerns. And lastly, I might just say people are
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: also worried about long term side effects from the vaccine.
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: I hear and unlike other medicines that you have to
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: take every day. These vaccines you need to have two
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: doses three to six weeks apart for the Messenger RNA
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: vaccines or up to twelve weeks apart for the astrosenica vaccine.
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: But the vaccine, your body clears the vaccine very effectively
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: within four to six weeks, so there is no remnut
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: of the vaccine left in your body after your immune
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: system has been activated, right, and so the chances of
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: any long term side effects from vaccines. And you know,
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: we give lots of different vaccines, they all get removed
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: from the body and then what's left, which is the
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: great thing, is your immune system trained and ready to go.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: So if you come into contact with coronavirus or influenza
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: or any other microorganism that you've been vaccinated against, your
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: body is ready to fight it and keep you healthy.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: Well. Bavini Patel, I really appreciate your time this morning.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: I know that you are incredibly busy, and I appreciate
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: the fact that you've taken the time to have a
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: good chat with us. Thank you so much, and hopefully
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: we'll talk to you again very soon.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: Fantastic, Thank you so much Kate