Consenting to a treatment, a procedure or a vaccine is a process of weighing up both the risks and benefits of the treatment (be it a vaccine, a surgical procedure, a new medication) and the risks and benefits of not having the treatment.
For some treatments this might be a really easy discussion. I have had influenza and it was awful. I was sick for weeks, my kids got sick. Everything ached, my fingernails hurt. Horrible. I tolerate the flu shot well – some years I feel a bit achy and get a sore arm. For me the potential benefits of the vaccine well outweighs the risks of harm. When I worked as a medical student and junior doctor I helped care for children in the High Dependency Unit with whooping cough, adults with measles in the ICU. The outcome of these diseases was devastating in terms of health of the patient and the impact on their carers.
I remember when I was pregnant with my daughter reading about the risks of vaccines. I was worried about the potential to cause harm. I booked an appointment with my GP and she talked through my concerns. She provided me with evidence about the benefits of the vaccinations, and examples of the harm from the disease itself. At the end of the discussion I felt more comfortable with my decision to vaccinate my baby when she was born.
This month this child sat in front of me as an adult and discussed the covid-19 and the Astrazenneca vaccine. Astrazenneca is the vaccine that she is eligible to have. We discussed the risk of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) versus the risks of covid-19 infection. We discussed having asymptomatic covid, long covid, being hospitalised, dying from covid. We talked about the data we have currently for the strains in Australia as they effect her age group. We discussed waiting for Pfizer or having AZ and then potentially being suddenly eligible (given the rapid changing policy environment). We discussed the risk of contracting covid and potential transmission to the kids that she babysits, her grandparents, work colleagues and other students who are not vaccinated. We discussed future travel, daily activities. She read the government handouts about the vaccine risks and benefits. She talked about it with the people that she trusted.
This week she booked an appointment for a vaccine and had her first dose of AZ. She is having a robust immune response right now. I feel safer knowing that the first dose is in her arm. I look forward to my other kids being able to be vaccinated.
Dr Kerrie Aust 