Australia has recorded its 910th coronavirus death with all bar five involving people aged 50 and over.

The head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration says the age profile of the dead demonstrates how vital it is for older Australians to get vaccinated.

Subscribe for FREE to the HealthTimes magazine



The latest addition to the toll is an 80-year-old Australian man who died in Brisbane on Monday night after returning from the Philippines.

He tested positive on his fifth day in hotel quarantine and was taken to the Prince Charles Hospital on March 25 but could not be saved.

"Every single death except for five people were in people aged 50 and over - 99.5 per cent," TGA boss John Skerritt said on Tuesday. "That's why vaccination in that group is so important."
FEATURED JOBS


The man's passing is Australia's first from COVID-19 this year. It follows the death of a NSW man in his 70s in late December. He succumbed to respiratory complications about nine months after being infected.

Australia has been forced to dramatically ramp up orders for the Pfizer vaccine after authorities determined the more abundant and domestically manufactured AstraZeneca vaccine should not routinely be given to the under 50s.

Australia's advice on AstraZeneca changed after it was linked to a rare but sometimes fatal blood clotting disorder overseas.

So far two people who've had the AstraZeneca vaccine in Australia have suffered clotting complications, the latest a West Australian woman in her 40s who is in hospital in a stable condition.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt was asked why older Australians are still being given the Pfizer vaccine, given it is in shorter supply and is the preferred option for under 50s.

He said Pfizer was still being used in aged-care homes because it offers faster protection than AstraZeneca.

"Of these 910 (deaths), 685 who have passed have been in residential aged-care facilities. Making sure those residents are vaccinated with a three-week turnaround time offers the maximum protection to the most vulnerable and frail Australians," the minister told reporters.

The loss of the 80-year-old man on Monday night was the seventh coronavirus-related death in Queensland so far, and the first since April last year.

Five of the previous deaths involved infections that were acquired on cruise ships but were diagnosed in Queensland. The sixth death was a woman who was infected in Queensland but died in Sydney.

Coronavirus deaths are only included in Queensland's official death toll if infections are diagnosed in the state.

That was the case with the 80-year-old man who died on Monday but not with former Papua New Guinea Eastern Highlands governor Malcolm Smith, who died in a Queensland hospital last week.

He was diagnosed with coronavirus in PNG meaning he hasn't been included in the state toll.

Comments

COMPANY

CONNECT