IMPROVING access to and uptake of AstraZeneca is the key to lifting the Hunter's vaccination rates, say doctors and politicians.
Hunter General Practitioners Association secretary Dr Lee Fong said there had been a recent improvement in local vaccination rates as the Hunter's first cases of COVID-19 in a year plunged it into a seven-day lockdown.
"Generally speaking, yes, it sounds like vaccination rates have been fantastic and anecdotally in the last few days that's no longer a problem, at least for a certain proportion of the population," Dr Fong said.
"It will be interesting to see what happens both in terms of local case numbers and is that going to increase or is it going to flatten out and then decrease - and then correspondingly what's going to happen to vaccination rates.
"That's all a bit of a 'Who knows?' and I guess we're going to find out."
The latest Department of Health data for geographic regions is from August 1 and shows 37.5 per cent of people aged over 15 in the Hunter Valley had received one dose and 14.1 per cent were fully vaccinated.
It shows 41.3 per cent of people in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie had received their first dose and 17.7 per cent were fully vaccinated.
Dr Fong said demand outweighed supply for Pfizer and supply exceeded demand for AstraZeneca, "despite it being a good and very effective vaccine with a low risk profile, so that's where the work needs to be done".
He said doctors had seen an increase since the local cases in the number of people getting AstraZeneca, particularly in the under 60s group.
"The local level urgency that we've seen pop up in the last 24 hours has helped address some of that [hesitancy] in terms of being a tipping point for a significant number of people [to get vaccinated], but again I'm not sure how broadly that applies in terms of how much penetration that's going to have through the rest of the community," he said.
"When you have circulating cases and lockdown then incentive to vaccinate goes up as people's perceived personal risk goes up - and then when things die down, then people's perception of personal risk dies down and their incentive to vaccinate drops away."
Dr Fong said it was important for people to understand that doctors knew a lot more than before about AstraZeneca's "tiny tiny risk" of blood clots (which may occur in around four to six people in every million), as well as how to recognise symptoms, diagnose it and treat it successfully. He said a media campaign about the high benefit and low risk, possibly led by government, may be useful.
Viral immunologist Associate Professor Nathan Bartlett suggested a campaign involving trusted community identities, organisations and employers about the personal benefits of having AstraZeneca, aside from not getting ill.
"Whether it's being able to see loved ones, hug your niece or nephew or grandchild, just trying to make it relatable and link vaccination to the things that are currently hurting us as a result of being locked down and restricted in what we can do," he said.
"People are facing personal challenges so there has to be a level of personal connection and understanding if we're wanting to change people's attitudes here."
Lake Macquarie MP Greg Piper also supported the idea of greater community education about AstraZeneca featuring "credible spokespeople... without overcomplicating it".
Paterson MP Meryl Swanson said people had vaccine hesitancy "because of the mixed messaging" and the government needed to "restore public confidence".
"Now that the Prime Minister is returning the vaccines he took, we can start to get back on track, but we need a far better public awareness campaign to overcome these challenges," she said.
"Already people in my electorate have received three pieces of mail from Clive Palmer spreading misinformation about the risks of vaccines.
"We have seen no effort by the Health Minister or the Prime Minister to call out this negligence."
Associate Professor Bartlett said it was important to understand people's reluctance about AstraZeneca, to be able to more directly address specific concerns.
"There's a diversity of groups and reasons behind hesitancy and anxiety around all this. Some of it is education, some of it is bias, some of it is information, some of it is being scared - pure fear of a jab or needle or side effect," he said.
"All of those are different conversations really and so it's not one size fits all, it's not just stand up in front of a press conference and say 'If you don't have the vaccine it's going to have XYZ consequence', that's not enough."
The Herald published a Hunter GP Association list of practices offering AstraZeneca bookings after community feedback that many people who wanted it were finding it difficult to secure an appointment, for reasons including not knowing which practices are offering it to new patients, which doctors will vaccinate people aged under 60, and long waiting times.
Associate Professor Bartlett encouraged people to persist.
"If you can't get a booking the first time, try again," he said. "You might have to try multiple times, put in some additional effort, accept the system might be overwhelmed at times and you'll have to keep trying, but don't give up."
Lake Macquarie MP Greg Piper said not every general practice had equal capacity to deliver AstraZeneca.
He encouraged people to be willing to visit a new GP and bring their medical history.
