NATALIE BARR:
Australian officials remain confident AstraZeneca is safe and it's effective, with the rollout to continue as scheduled.
I'm joined now by Professor John Skerritt from the Therapeutic Good Administration. Good morning to you.
Are all these European countries overreacting?
JOHN SKERRITT:
Yes. Good morning. We've been working very closely with those countries, as well as other countries throughout the world. In fact, overnight, we had a teleconference with 15 or 16 countries, including countries like the UK who have rolled out 11 million doses, and even Saudi Arabia just as a left-field example but has rolled out a million doses and have not seen these problems.
So the question we have, of course, is whether because blood clots are so common - sadly 17,000 people a year are diagnosed by their doctor or the emergency department at the hospital in having them - is this just coincidence, or is there a cause and effect? So, we are taking it very seriously, but we align with European Medicines Agency in saying that there is no reason to stop the rollout.
NATALIE BARR:
So, we've got a couple of high-profile politicians in Australia saying let's pause while we investigate it. What's your view on that?
JOHN SKERRITT:
Well, more importantly, with respect, are the views of the medical experts in Australia. And you, and other media organisations, have talked over the last four or five days to probably 12 or 15 of the top vaccine experts, haematologists, medical specialists, and all of them are saying to continue with the vaccine, we don't see evidence of cause and effect at this stage.
NATALIE BARR:
Yeah. So, those figures about blood clots, on average, 50 Aussies a day develop a blood clot. So, this is a normal thing that a lot of people get, not anything to do with this vaccine. Is that what you're saying?
JOHN SKERRITT:
Well, we can't say it was absolutely nothing to do with the vaccine - that's the role of our team of doctors and statisticians and scientists and so forth. But in any vaccine, or any product that's going to be used right across the community, you always have all the other medical things that people just have - whether it's a heart attack, a stroke or whatever - in the course of their life. Now, there are a few unusual types of blood clots that have been reported in Europe. But again, when you have 17,000 blood clots a year, maybe a few 100 are unusual again.
So, what we're trying to do is to see if this is coincidence, as we suspect, or whether there's a cause and effect and that's why we're working very closely with these other countries. But we haven't seen anything that would tell us to put a hold on the program at this moment.
NATALIE BARR:
Okay. So, that's what the science is saying. Professor, we thank you for your time this morning.
JOHN SKERRITT:
That's what the science is saying.
NATALIE BARR:
There you go.
JOHN SKERRITT:
Thank you.
NATALIE BARR:
That's good enough for me. Thanks.
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