‘My patients fear the vaccine’: GP says bookings are drying up
Many GPs, like Dr Jamal Rifi, are dealing with patients hesitant to be vaccinated amid news that the AstraZeneca vaccine is linked to rare blood clots
Dr Jamal Rifi estimates that during the first three weeks of the vaccine rollout in general practice his team was administering the AstraZeneca vaccine to 70 patients a day.
It was a hectic time and it was expected that the numbers were going to increase dramatically as supplies improved and the community embraced the protection from the pandemic being offered.
Today, he has just 25 bookings — no where near enough for the 470 weekly doses of the vaccine his GP respiratory clinic is receiving from the Federal Government.
And even then, not all of the patients who turn up for their appointments will go on to have the injection.
