Inaprubahan na ng Britain at United States ang Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine, ganun din ang sa US- na unang ibinahagi sa mga nangangailagang komunidad.
Sa pagtaas ng kaso ng COVID-19 sa Australia, marami ang nagtatanong kung kailangan sisimulan ang pamamahagi nito sa bansa.
Tiniyak naman ng pederal na pamhalaan na nakahanda na ang distribusyon ng vaccine sa unang bahagi ng taong 2021.
Bakit hindi pa ipinamamahagi ang vaccine sa Australia?
Ayon kay University of South Australia epidemiologist Professor Adrian Esterman, hindi dapat magmadali.
Dapat alalahanin na ang Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine sa UK at US nagkaroon lamang ng "emergency approval", ibigsabin, pinayagan ito kahit hindi pa tapos ang stage three trials dahil sa mataas na pangangailangan ng mga tao.
Allergic reactions to the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine are said to be incredibly rare. Source: Photonews
“It's unusual to get this emergency use but because countries like the UK and US are in such dire situations with COVID-19, they couldn't really wait long enough … and that's fair enough,”
Kailan sisimulan ang pagbabakuna sa Australia?
“Our regulating authority [the Therapeutic Goods Administration] would much rather wait to get the full trial results, look at them carefully, give them a big tick and then we can start vaccinating”
Ayon kay Professor Esterman inaasahan nyang matutuloy ang pamamahagi ng Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine sa Marso 2021.
Sino ang unang makakatanggap ng vaccine?
Kunumpirma ni acting chief medical officer Paul Kelly na ipapamahagi ang vaccine ayon sa mga priority groups kung saan unang makakatanggap ang matatanda at mga taong may karamdaman.
Sunod sa listahan ang mga taong mataas ang exposure sa virus tulad ng mga health at aged care workers, ganun din ang mga nagtatrabaho sa emergency services at mga essential workers.
Anong mga vaccine ang gagamitin sa Australia?
Mayroong tatlong pinagpipilian ang Australia matapos abandonahin vaccine mula sa University of Queensland. Lahat ng ito ay kailangan ng tig-dalawang doses para sa bawat tao. Inaasahang mapupunan ang higit na 25million na populasyon ng bansa.
AstraZeneca
Source: SBS News
“This vaccine is what we call a viral vector. It uses a chimpanzee virus, which is harmless, to infect us and then that delivers the vaccine,” Professor Esterman said.
Ang Australian biotechnology company na CSL ay nangakong gagawa ng 50 million doses sa Melbourne.Sinimulan na ang paggawa sa mga vaccine pero hihintayin pa ang pag-apruba sa AstraZeneca bago ito maipamahagi.
Novavax
Source: SBS News
Tinawag ito ni Professor Esterman bilang “protein vaccine”: isang subok na paraan at inaasahang maaaprubahan sa susunod na taon.
“They just started phase three trials in September,” he said.
“So again, that really won't be available probably until at least May or June next year.”
Pfizer/BioNTech
Source: SBS News
mRNA ang bagong teknolohiyang ginamit para sa vaccine. Pero kahit una itong payagan, limang milyong Australians lang ang makakakuha nito dahil sa dalawang doses na kailangan ng bawat tao.
Ayon kay Australian Medical Association vice president Dr Chris Moy, mahalaga ang naging desisyon ng pamahalaan na magkaroon ng maraming mapagkukunan ng vaccine.
"Frankly, the issue has been trying to hedge our bets as a nation to be able to access the vaccines which were most likely to succeed," he said. "It was not possible to have an 'all eggs in one basket' strategy.”
Pero ayon sa Labor, maaring kulangin pa rin ang tatlo. Iminumungkahi na magkaroon ng lima hanggang anim na pagkukunan.
Gaano kahirap iimbak ang Pfizer vaccine?
Kailangan ng minus 70 degrees celsius na lalagyan ng vaccine. Kaya mas mahirap itong ipamahagi. Pero naniniwala si Professor Esterman na kaya itong gawin ng Australia.
“It has to be stored in special containers. A bit like eskies, but that hold liquid nitrogen that keeps it extremely cold,” Professor Esterman said.
“Pfizer will be sending it across Australia in these special eskies. Even though it's more difficult because of that cold chain requirement, it should be quite easily managed in Australia.”
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine must be kept at very cold temperatures. Source: Getty
Ang mRNA vaccines tulad ng Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine ay maari ding gawin dito sa Australia sa tulong ng bagong teknolohiya.
“There’s talk about us developing our own manufacturing ability for the mRNA vaccines and I think that would be a good idea for a future pandemic,” Professor Esterman said.
Anong nangyari sa UQ/CSL vaccine?
Inalis na sa listahan ng mga pagkukunan ng vaccine ang matapos magkaroon ng false-positive HIV test results ang mga lumahok sa trial.
“It had no risk of causing infection from HIV,” ayon kay Professor Robert Booy, isang infectious diseases expert mula University of Sydney.
“What was actually being used was a little bit of protein, nothing to do with the actual infectious virus.”
Nangangamba ang mga scientist na kahit ligtas nang gamitin ang vaccine, ang false-positive results ng HIV ay makakapekto sa HIV testing program ng Australia, ganun din sa mga blood donation drives at kumpyansa ng publiko.
Anong opinyon ng mga Australian sa pagkakaroon ng vaccine?
Para maging matagumpay ang kampanya ng pagpapabakuna o vaccination, kailangan magkaroon ng sapat na kaalaman at makiisa ang maraming mamamayan.
Sinabi ni Melbourne GP Dr Abhishek Verma na marami sa kanyang mga pasyente ang nagtatanong tungkol sa bisa at pagiging ligtas ng bakuna.
"We've had a lot of questions about the vaccinations; is it going to be safe? Is it going to be mandatory? Is it going to be potentially dangerous?" he said.
Marami sa kanyang mga pasyente ang natatakot at nagdadalwang isip para sa kanilang kalusugan..
“What we're doing is having open dialogues with patients and addressing their concerns,” he said.
“We try to take those opportunities using the data we get from the Department of Health as well as the clinical trials, we try to use evidence-based practice to promote what we believe is a safe and effective vaccination.”
Nitong Nobyembre, napagalaman sa isang Australian National University survey ng 3,061 Australian adults na 58.5 per cent ay nagsasabing handa silang magpabakuna. anim na porsyento naman ang hindi pumapayag.
Isasali ba ang lahat ng komunidad sa pamamahagi ng vaccine?
Ayon kay Dr Verma, ang language barriers at kakulangan ng pagpipilian pagdating sa kalusugan ay isa sa mga hinaharap na problema.
"They have traditionally always been somewhat disenfranchised and hard to engage in general practice and primary care,” Dr Verma said. “So I think those people will have specific barriers because they may be more prone to being misinformed if they're not getting the information from accurate sources."
Binatiko ang State at federal government departments sa gitna ng pandemya dahil sa maling komonikasyon o pakikipa- ugnayan sa mga komunidad na may iba't ibang kultura at wika.
Dahil sa mga maling pagsasalin ng impormasyon hanggang kakulangan ng konsultasyon sa mga pinuno, nagkaroon ng maling kaalaman ang mga tao tungkol sa virus.
Ayon kay Adel Salman, spokesperson for the Islamic Council of Victoria , marami sa maling impormasyon ay nakukuha nila online.
"I think it's really important that the right messaging is promoted effectively because there'll be a lot of fear-mongering, a lot of conspiracy theories spread,” he said. “We need to make sure the messaging can cut through all of that. and we have trusted sources delivering that message in an appropriate way.”
Nananwagan sya sa pamahalaan na magkaroon ng malawakang pagpapalaganap ng impormasyon tungkol sa vaccine bago ito ipamahagi.
sinabi ni spokesperson for Health Minister Greg Hunt sa SBS News na ipagpapatuloy ng pamahalaan ang pagkonsulta at paghingi ng payo sa mga malalaking multicultural organisations at stakeholders bilang tugon sa pagsugpo ng COVID-19.
Kamakailan ay binuo ng pamahalaan ang Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities COVID-19 Health Advisory Group, na nagpulong ngayong buwan.
Anong mga kumplikasyon ang maaring mangyari?
Ayon kay Professor Paul Griffin, isang infectious diseases expert sa University of Queensland, maaring maging kumplikado ang vaccine rollout sa Australia.
"I think the logistics, as well as vaccine hesitancy, are the two main issues we are going to face moving forward. I am not sure we have done enough to address either of those yet," he said.
"The logistics are going to be incredibly complicated. Basically, we have never done anything like this before.”
“We have a reasonable flu rollout but that involves many different methods of getting that vaccine to people and we still never achieved the rates we would like to see with these COVID vaccines,” he said.
“Also the record-keeping and ability for people to provide evidence of having received a vaccine [are important]. The vaccines we are going to start with at least require two doses, if people don't come back for their second dose then we might be significantly undermining levels of protection.”
Mabisa ba ang mga vaccine?
Sinabi ni Dr Moy said na kailangan linawin ang mga pangmatagalang epekto ng vaccination program.
"They are effective in terms of stopping you getting sick but at the moment we are not sure at how good they are at actually stopping you from catching it or even passing it on. So, they may be good at one thing but may not be good at the other,” he said.
“We are not only trying to protect the individual but trying to stop the spread in the community as well. Overall there are pros and cons for all these vaccines and there are a few things that have not been determined yet, such as how long they last.”
Kailan ito malalaman?
Ayon kay Professor Kelly ang buong detalye tungkol sa svaccination rollout ay iaanunsyo sa Enero.
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