Hon James Hayward questions the Minister for Health regarding vaccine safety surveillance, adverse events following vaccination, and booster uptake in WA. The Minister provides explanations and timelines for reporting.

AnsweredQoN 493Legislative Council
Asked
11 May 2023
Portfolio
Health

QuestionView source ↗

VACCINE SAFETY SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM
493. Hon JAMES HAYWARD to the Leader of the House
representing the Minister for Health:
I refer to comments made by the
minister on 28 March 2023 in the other place.
(1) Can the
minister explain how a statistically significant increase in adverse events
following vaccinations in the 2021 calendar year undermines the government's
incredibly successful vaccination program?
(2) Can the
minister advise whether the uptake of COVID-19 vaccine booster shots has
reduced since mandates were removed?
(3) Can the
minister confirm whether the 2022 Western Australian vaccine safety
surveillance annual report will be released by 30 June 2023?
(4) What was the
total number of adverse events following vaccinations in the 2022 calendar
year? If the answer is currently not available, why not?

AnswerView source ↗

(1) Due to the substantially higher number of
vaccinations administered in Western Australia in 2021, changes to Western Australian vaccine safety surveillance
that broadened the scope of adverse event identification , and increased
public awareness of vaccine safety, the number of adverse events reported were
higher than previous years.
(2) Uptake of COVID-19 booster shots decreased after
mandates were removed, in line with current health advice.
(3) As noted in a
previous response on 22 February 2023, the 2022 WAVSS annual report is
scheduled to be released in July 2023.
(4) This
information is not yet available. The adverse event data for 2022 is still
being validated and analysed by a vaccine safety officer at the Department of
Health.

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