BOTH the AstraZeneca (AZ) and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines are "good vaccines", that have a role to play in protecting the Australian public from the pandemic virus, Federal Health Minister, Greg Hunt, believes.
With outbreaks of the Delta strain of the virus putting Sydney and South East Queensland into lockdowns, Hunt told pharmacists that it was not a time for "vaccine snobbery", with reports that patients were opting to wait to receive the Pfizer shot, rather than accessing the country's plentiful supply of the AZ vaccine.
"I'm not supportive of any vaccine snobbery that we may have seen in parts of Australia," he said.
"Fortunately that is waning... there's a realisation that there's no place for vaccine snobbery."
Hunt said the AZ jab, which has been linked to cases of the rare clotting disorder, thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), had saved lives around the world.
Meanwhile, former Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Nick Coatsworth told the Canberra Times that "if I gave someone the AZ vaccine today, it would be the least risky thing I did as a doctor".
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