Changes to Federal Government’s vaccine roll-out plan having little impact at Earl Street Surgery

Earl Street Surgery practice manager Eileen Lloyd says changes to government advice for COVID-19 vaccines have had little noticeable impact on patient attitudes in Narrogin.

Ms Lloyd said the Narrogin practice had avoided the need for significant changes to its vaccine strategy after the Federal Government updated its official health advice on the vaccine rollout.

Government advice now recommends that the Pfizer vaccine is preferred for adults under 50.

That advice was based on the increased risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes for older adults and a potentially increased risk of blood clots after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine in those under 50.

Ms Lloyd said the practice’s cautious planning meant no changes had been required so far.

“We had already undertaken our own risk assessment prior to commencing our first clinic and had made the decision then not to provide the AstraZeneca vaccine to patients under 50 years of age,” Ms Lloyd said.

“So for our practice, nothing has really changed.”

After receiving its first shipment of the vaccine, Earl Street has conducted two clinics for its most vulnerable cohort, aged 80 and over, with another clinic scheduled for this week.

Ms Lloyd said the recent unexpected changes to vaccine advice seemed to have had minimal impact on patients’ attitudes.

“To date, we have not had any patients attend our vaccination clinic and change their mind subsequently about having their COVID vaccination,” Ms Lloyd said.

“We did have just a couple of cancellations for each clinic, which is typical for any day of operation due to illness, conflicting commitments or forgetfulness, but we were able to fill all of those vacancies on the day.

“As previous, we will be reaching out to our patients directly, so we ask people not to contact the surgery regarding COVID vaccine appointments.”