THERE is yet to be a confirmed case of COVID-19 in Newcastle and the Hunter despite testing rates almost doubling in the past three weeks.
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Figures supplied by Hunter New England Health show testing numbers reached 13,399 across Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland and Port Stephens in the week ending June 27, up 95 per cent from June 13.
Meanwhile, reception staff at Hunter practices offering COVID-19 vaccines "deserve a medal" after the Prime Minister's announcement that anyone under 40 who wants the AstraZeneca vaccine could talk to their GP to make a "risk-based decision".
Clinics were hammered by phone calls on Tuesday after Scott Morrison said GPs could offer anyone under 60 - including those aged 18 to 39 who are not currently eligible for a Pfizer vaccine - doses of AstraZeneca on request.
It comes following a new no-fault indemnity scheme for GPs administering COVID-19 vaccines to cover those who agree to give Australians under 60 the AstraZeneca vaccine. But the announcement at 8pm on Monday meant many Hunter practices had not yet had an opportunity to consider the new changes before the phones started ringing.
Dr Colin Pearce, of Charlestown Square Medical Centre, said he was unsure whether people under 40, specifically, had attempted to make an appointment on Tuesday, but there had certainly been a surge in demand from people aged 50-to-60 again.
"Our clinics are booked out until the 19th of July, and people are kicking up a stink because they can't get in," Dr Pearce said. "It has been constant. The reception staff need some sort of medal. The phones do not stop ringing.
"People are waiting on hold, and everyone's emotions are running high."
They had "20-to-40 no shows" at vaccine clinics after ATAGI's previous "backflip" that recommended Pfizer as the preferred vaccine for people aged 50-to-60.
"Which is rude on all sorts of levels," he said. "It's a waste of vaccine, it's a waste of an appointment, and that is created by uncertainty," he said. "Now you've got massive demand for vaccine appointments, and those appointments are going to get pushed further and further out based on our ability to give them. It's mid-July for us, and I think it's about late-August for the John Hunter clinic. AstraZeneca is still a great and effective vaccine - even with the low clotting risk, its benefit in prevention of COVID far exceeds the risk if used in the correct patients."
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Newcastle's Matt Endacott, 30, tried calling his GP to request an appointment for the AstraZeneca vaccine, but was told the practice was "sticking with over-60s" as a policy for at least the next month. He said under-40s - particularly those working in casualised jobs - could not continue to weather snap lockdowns - despite their necessity at present.
"I support lockdowns as a necessary action, but I think what motivates me and a lot of people my age is that we don't enjoy the secure workplaces and arrangements that some others do," he said. "I work for myself, I don't have sick leave. A lot of my friends work in the arts, they don't have sick leave. So that unpredictability and the financial cost of lockdowns make us want to look for solutions. If the vaccine is going to be available, I am going to go and get it."
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