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Speaker 1: Well, we have had a lot of discussion about the

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Speaker 1: vaccine rollout and at the moment and those plans to

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Speaker 1: get to the eighty percent vaccination. Right now, joining me

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Speaker 1: on the line is Associate Professor Bavini Patel, the anti

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Speaker 1: executive vaccine lead.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to your Bavini.

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Speaker 3: Hi Katie, and hello to your listeners to now.

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time this morning. I know that

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Speaker 1: we are fast approaching a key target with seventy percent

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Speaker 1: of Territorians set to be fully vaccinated this week, hopefully

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Speaker 1: early this week. How are the vaccine appointments looking for

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Speaker 1: this week following the announcement last week of the mandate.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, again, as always, we've had a really good response

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Speaker 3: from Territorians, those Territorians that haven't yet prioritized getting a vaccine,

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Speaker 3: So we had a big increase in bookings and also

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Speaker 3: walking visits to our vaccinate centers the day of the announcement,

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Speaker 3: and we've had a steady increase in bookings over the

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Speaker 3: last few days. So it's looking like people are taking

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Speaker 3: the opportunity to prioritize getting a vaccine and just to

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Speaker 3: let people know the vaccines available through quite a number

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Speaker 3: of different places. Now, so you can go to your

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Speaker 3: community pharmacist, you can go to a range of GPS

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Speaker 3: and also your Aboriginal medical service as well as their

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Speaker 3: anti vaccination centers around Darwin.

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Speaker 1: Now I understand that there did have to be some

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Speaker 1: changes to that vaccine form as a result of the mandate.

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Speaker 2: What will those changes on those forms? See?

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Speaker 3: Can you just clarify, Katie, what do you mean by

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Speaker 3: which forms? People?

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Speaker 1: So the anti news is reporting that when people going

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Speaker 1: into obviously have that vaccine. Yesterday it was still saying

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Speaker 1: on the form that it was a voluntary vaccine, but

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Speaker 1: in some cases for a lot of people that's changed

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Speaker 1: if they are in a job where they need to

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Speaker 1: actually get it.

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Speaker 2: Due to the mandate.

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Speaker 1: So my understanding is based on that report this morning,

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Speaker 1: that that form has had to have some changes.

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Speaker 2: Is that right?

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Speaker 3: That's not my understanding. So the form is is a

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Speaker 3: consent form where people are being advised of the risks

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Speaker 3: and benefits of the vaccine and a medical history and

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Speaker 3: a check to say that they haven't received the vaccine

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Speaker 3: in the past. So we don't, you know, inadvertently give

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Speaker 3: people a double dose. So so my understanding is that

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Speaker 3: form doesn't need to be changed. It's still you know,

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Speaker 3: people still need to give informed consent. They understand the

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Speaker 3: benefits and understand the short term side effects that people

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Speaker 3: are likely to feel after they if it received the vaccine.

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Speaker 1: Okay, because it is noted in the paper that the

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Speaker 1: Health Minister has said that the form would be changed

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Speaker 1: to reflect the new mandatory COVID nineteen vaccination rules, she

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Speaker 1: said those forms will need to be updated to reflect

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Speaker 1: for some occupations, but that's around informed consent, so it's

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Speaker 1: not going to need a big change.

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Speaker 3: Well, yes, as I said, I'll follow that up with

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Speaker 3: the Minister's office and really understand what the request is.

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Speaker 3: From my perspective, the form that people are requested to

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Speaker 3: fill in is around understanding, you know, the person's details,

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Speaker 3: that we've got the right person, they haven't had a

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Speaker 3: similar vaccine before, and that we go through you know,

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Speaker 3: the monitoring and the side effects that people are likely

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Speaker 3: to experience after they've received the vaccine.

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Speaker 1: Okay, Now, Beravini, I've got to tell you yesterday we

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Speaker 1: had a lot of people getting coach with us here

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Speaker 1: at the station with questions. Some of them were quite

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Speaker 1: genuine concerns about getting the vaccine. Firstly, why is this

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Speaker 1: mandate so important from a health perspective.

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Speaker 3: So we know that around the world and in New

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Speaker 3: South Wales and Victoria, that the delta strain of COVID

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Speaker 3: is highly contagious and COVID nineteen itself is a very

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Speaker 3: severe and life threatening disease, and the vaccine is an

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Speaker 3: opportunity for us individually and for our community to protect

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Speaker 3: ourselves from getting this severe disease. And so, like any

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Speaker 3: preventative measure, you know, prevention is always better than cure.

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Speaker 3: So at the moment when people get sick with COVID nineteen,

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Speaker 3: some people need to be hospitalized, A proportion of people

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Speaker 3: might need intensity care treatment, including a breathing machine. And

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Speaker 3: we've seen the number of people dying right around the

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Speaker 3: world from this disease. And so it's important for us

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Speaker 3: to have the vaccine to protect ourselves and to stop

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Speaker 3: to stop vulnerable people like children under the age of

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Speaker 3: twelve who are not yet eligible for the disease, for

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Speaker 3: the vaccine, or people with you know, other vulnerabilities so

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Speaker 3: we can protect them against COVID nineteen as well.

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Speaker 1: Now, we had a call yesterday from Christian and he said,

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Speaker 1: my wife is pregnant and is being told by some

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Speaker 1: health professionals she shouldn't.

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Speaker 2: Have the vaccine.

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Speaker 1: What will she do on November thirteen when she can't

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Speaker 1: work in her industry. Is it likely medical professionals are

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Speaker 1: telling Christian's wife not to have the vaccine and what

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Speaker 1: would be the reason?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So I'm obviously if you're a listener, is an

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Speaker 3: advising that some medical that his wife has had some

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Speaker 3: advice from medical health professionals, then we need to take

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Speaker 3: that that feedback seriously. All of the medical specialties right

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Speaker 3: around the country have endorsed a target clinical advice, which

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Speaker 3: did change a few months ago. So the initial advice,

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Speaker 3: and this is where sometimes people can be can lead

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Speaker 3: to confusion. So when the vaccine first became available in Australia,

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Speaker 3: the advice was to delay vaccination and if you were

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Speaker 3: pregnant until we had real life data to absolutely confirm

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Speaker 3: that there was no potential issues either to the mother

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Speaker 3: or the child. And we now have that absolute surety

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Speaker 3: that the outcomes of COVID nineteen if you're pregnant significantly

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Speaker 3: you're at much higher risk. There was some studies that

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Speaker 3: came out of the England earlier this month which showed

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Speaker 3: that people who needed intensive care treatment. One in six

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Speaker 3: of those people needing the very highest level of intensive

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Speaker 3: care were pregnant. And we also know that if you

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Speaker 3: get COVID nineteen while you're pregnant, then you're much more

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Speaker 3: likely to have a negative outcome of your pregnancy, which

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Speaker 3: is something that we just don't want to see in

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Speaker 3: the territory. In terms of vaccinations, we now know there

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Speaker 3: was a study that came out in June which supported

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Speaker 3: the change in the advice of well over thirty five

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Speaker 3: thousand pregnant women in the US who had received the

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Speaker 3: vaccine either before they got pregnant or during their pregnancy,

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Speaker 3: and there was no safety concerns highlighted within that study,

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Speaker 3: and there was no difference in pregnancy outcomes for women

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Speaker 3: who had been vaccinated versus those who had not. So

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Speaker 3: that's thirty five thousand women who were pregnant, and the

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Speaker 3: advice has changed, and we're strongly recommending women who are

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Speaker 3: currently pregnant to get vaccinated and also advising that the

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Speaker 3: vaccine does not have any adverse events associated with your

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Speaker 3: fertility or your ability to conceive, as the studies have

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Speaker 3: shown today.

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Speaker 2: Now, Bavinia, I'm very mindful of your time.

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Speaker 1: I know that you've got another meeting to get to,

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Speaker 1: and I've got a few other listener questions. I have

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Speaker 1: got one here that has asked about this person is

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Speaker 1: obviously going through IVF and has said that they're unsure

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Speaker 1: whether it's safe for them to be able to get

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Speaker 1: that vaccine or if it's going to interfere with the process.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so I probably can't give individual advice, but again

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Speaker 3: there's to go and talk to your specialist or your

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Speaker 3: GP for your individual circumstances. But there's very few situations

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Speaker 3: where we are not recommending the vaccine, and they are

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Speaker 3: if you've got a specific allergy to the components of

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Speaker 3: the vaccine, if you've had one of the very low

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Speaker 3: likelihood of adverse events to the ASTROZENKA vaccine, and they

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Speaker 3: are really the only absolute contry indications, as we say,

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Speaker 3: to getting them vaccine. But it's safe in all medical conditions,

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Speaker 3: it's safe in pregnancy, it's safe in kids, and effective

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Speaker 3: for kids above the age of twelve, and we're just

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Speaker 3: waiting on data to be submitted to regulator for children

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Speaker 3: age five and above. So that's really exciting that that

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Speaker 3: age group potentially will also have the opportunity to be

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Speaker 3: vaccinated against this really severe and dangerous disease.

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Speaker 2: Bevini.

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Speaker 1: A question here from robb In Winelli. When is novovas

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Speaker 1: going to be available?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, there's been quite a lot of interest in novo vaccine.

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Speaker 3: So the TGA, who's our regulator in Australia, has approoved

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Speaker 3: the company to put in an application for it to

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Speaker 3: be used in Australia, but they've elected not to do

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Speaker 3: that to date, and so so really we're in the

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Speaker 3: hands of that particular company to put in an application

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Speaker 3: for that vaccine to be used in Australia, hy that

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Speaker 3: there may be a chance that they put it in

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Speaker 3: in some time in the future, but we've had no

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Speaker 3: confirmation that they will do and there's really I would

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Speaker 3: not be recommending people wait because we've got three vaccines

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Speaker 3: that are all safe and effective ready to be used

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Speaker 3: in the territory right now.

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Speaker 2: Bavini.

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Speaker 1: One of the biggest things that we hear people call

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Speaker 1: through on the phone lines saying to us and also

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Speaker 1: throughout the messages saying this is experimental. We don't know

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Speaker 1: what damage it's going to do to our bodies. What

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Speaker 1: would you say to those people listening who feel that

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Speaker 1: way right now?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think this is a really important question

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Speaker 3: in terms of, you know, making sure that people or

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Speaker 3: understand the research rigor that's gone into preparing these vaccines.

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Speaker 3: People are maybe hearing from their social media feed that

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Speaker 3: is experimental, that these vaccines are not safe, that they're new,

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Speaker 3: but actually the technology behind these vaccines have been researched

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Speaker 3: well over twenty years. The end the message at RNA vaccines,

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Speaker 3: you know, there's been studies done for treatment of a

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Speaker 3: range of infections such as radis and zeta virus and influenza,

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Speaker 3: so they're not experimental. They've undergone all of the safety

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Speaker 3: and efficacy clinical trials and around the world over six

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Speaker 3: billion doses of these vaccines have been given, So if

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Speaker 3: you just think of that number is a huge number

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Speaker 3: of people who've had the vaccine. And there's been a

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Speaker 3: spotlight on the safety of the vaccines, as you're aware,

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Speaker 3: and there's nothing in the clinical data set for the

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Speaker 3: trials or the real world evidence showing that there's any

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Speaker 3: safety concerns. And lastly, I might just say people are

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Speaker 3: also worried about long term side effects from the vaccine.

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Speaker 3: I hear and unlike other medicines that you have to

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Speaker 3: take every day. These vaccines you need to have two

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Speaker 3: doses three to six weeks apart for the Messenger RNA

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Speaker 3: vaccines or up to twelve weeks apart for the astrosenica vaccine.

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Speaker 3: But the vaccine, your body clears the vaccine very effectively

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Speaker 3: within four to six weeks, so there is no remnut

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Speaker 3: of the vaccine left in your body after your immune

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Speaker 3: system has been activated, right, and so the chances of

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Speaker 3: any long term side effects from vaccines. And you know,

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Speaker 3: we give lots of different vaccines, they all get removed

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Speaker 3: from the body and then what's left, which is the

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Speaker 3: great thing, is your immune system trained and ready to go.

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Speaker 3: So if you come into contact with coronavirus or influenza

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Speaker 3: or any other microorganism that you've been vaccinated against, your

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Speaker 3: body is ready to fight it and keep you healthy.

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Speaker 1: Well. Bavini Patel, I really appreciate your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: I know that you are incredibly busy, and I appreciate

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Speaker 1: the fact that you've taken the time to have a

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Speaker 1: good chat with us. Thank you so much, and hopefully

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Speaker 1: we'll talk to you again very soon.

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Speaker 3: Fantastic, Thank you so much Kate