23rd July 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo
It’s all too confusing. And annoying. They keep releasing updates in the lay media and says “see your GP to discuss” but did not update us. You will recall that 2 weeks ago the recommendations to have the second AstraZeneca vaccination moved to 6 weeks after the first vaccination in areas with the outbreak which is pretty much all of Sydney.…
9th June 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo
We all know that detailed information relating to Covid-19 is both fluid and rapidly changing. It’s only a mere 3 months since the first reports of thrombosis with thrombocytopaenia (TTS) relating to the administration of the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine emerged from Austria. The recommendations as to who should not have the AZ vaccine is constantly being revised as more information comes in from the case reports.…
13th May 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo
Thrombosis with thrombocytopaenia syndrome (TTS) has been reported following vaccination with AstraZeneca (AZ) and Johnson and Johnson (JJ) covid-19 vaccines. It is also called VITT (vaccine-induced immune thrombotic syndrome) and VIPIT (vaccine-induced prothrombotic immune thrombocytopenia). It is rare and primarily occurs in those under 50 years old. Although the government recommend that people under 50 years have the Pfizer vaccine, there are people who are in Phase 1A and 1B who can’t and should not wait for the Pfizer vaccine where supplies are limited.…
13th April 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo
Every time the government overpromise and underdeliver, we are the ones that have to deal with the public whose expectations have been led unnecessarily high for political reasons. With the issue of clots relating to the AZ vaccine on the front page over the last week or so, patients are now utterly confused and look to their GP for advice as to where and when to proceed.…
5th April 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo
Last week we explored the association of thromboembolism following vaccination with AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine. This adverse event was first reported in two patients in Austria which is then followed by more reports in Germany and the rest of Europe. One man in Victoria was recently reported to have similar adverse effects following the AZ vaccine.…
27th March 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo
It all started when the Austrian regulatory authority suspended the use of a batch of AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine on March 9th after a patient was diagnosed with multiple thrombosis and died 10 days after vaccination, and another was hospitalised with pulmonary embolism after being vaccinated. At least 16 other countries follow suit and suspended the use of AZ vaccine.…
27th February 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo
Even though there should be no panic in the roll out, as more and more is being flashed across our TV screen, patients may start queuing up at the practice agitating to be first to be vaccinated. We all still have our normal patients to look after everyday and we need some pre-planning to avoid being snowed under and causing stress to GPs and their staff.…
13th February 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo
As often occurs with new medications and vaccines, pregnant individuals were excluded from the clinical trials for these vaccines. As the vaccine roll out begins, women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant will want to discuss the safety of the vaccines with their GP. We better be up to date with the relevant issues so that we can have a meaningful discussion with our patient.…
2nd February 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo
Since my last post on the expression of interest (EOI) in participating in the Phase 1B covid-19 vaccine roll out, there have some changes and clarification to the silly announcements that may make it more acceptable to submit the EOI:
The National Booking System (NBS) has not been created yet and is unlikely to be ready in time for the launch of Phase 1B (if at all).…
29th January 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo
I know we have touched on this vaccine before when we discussed Covid-19 vaccine candidates. We briefly discussed the interim results then but since we are likely to get the AstraZeneca/Oxford (AZO) vaccine in the national vaccine roll-out in primary care, there will be many questions coming from our patients in the coming weeks.…
24th January 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo
PERSONAL OPINION
Is it deliberate that we are given 10 days lead time to submit an expression of interest (EOI) to participate in the national Covid-19 vaccine Phase 1b roll-out? 18 pages of information released on a Friday afternoon in the hope that we might skim over the details and sign up without reading the fine print?…
Dear Colleague
NSW Health would like to thank you for your continued work in the response to COVID-19. In order to continue to identify any undetected cases and break chains of transmission, we need to remain vigilant. The key to achieving this is to test people with even the very mildest symptoms of COVID-19. While testing rates have been relatively high in recent weeks, we need to continue to encourage testing and remain on high alert. …