The man responsible for providing official expert advice on vaccines has sought to clear up confusion around who should receive the AstraZeneca jab, as Queensland's top medical officer rejects suggestions she is scaremongering by advising younger people against the shot.
A bitter spat has broken out between politicians and health officials over the coronavirus vaccine rollout, with conflicting messaging fuelling fear and confusion over who should get what vaccine.
On Monday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a late-night press conference people under 40 could talk to their GP about getting the AstraZeneca jab.
Mr Morrison has offered GPs legal protection to vaccinate all adults and provided patients Medicare cover for their consultations.
But several state premiers and their medical advisers have pushed back against the announcement, .
On Thursday, after days of confusion, Christopher Blyth, who co-chairs the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI), said the group's advice remained that people under 60 should get the Pfizer vaccine.
Professor Blyth said people in that age group should only be considering AstraZeneca in "pressing" circumstances.
"There are some situations where that would be warranted, but they are quite small," he told ABC radio.
"The ATAGI advice is that Pfizer is our preference for those under the age of 60 years."
Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young firmly stated on Wednesday she does not want people in the state under 40 to receive the AstraZeneca jab, due to the extremely low risk of an extraordinarily rare blood clotting disorder.
Dr Young hit back at a flurry of questions on Thursday about whether she had overreached by taking the strong stance.
"Please, can I just stop all this. This is getting absolutely silly," she told reporters.
"I have put my advice out there very, very clearly. Now, people need to work out where they want to get advice from."
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk repeated her call on Thursday for Queenslanders to listen to Dr Young's advice.
"We want Australia to be vaccinated as carefully and safely as possible," she told reporters. 
Finance Minister Simon Birmingham a few hours earlier accused Ms Palaszczuk of attempting to "politicise" the bungled vaccine rollout during a fiery press conference on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday evening Source: SBS
"I know that some of the state Labor leaders, in particular the Queensland premier, have been desperate to politicise this, and frankly, that's shameful." he told the ABC.
"It’s always been the case that [ATAGI] advice has also said that Australians ... should be able to talk to their GPs about their own circumstance and all the government has done is provide additional support for GPs to be able to have those conversations with Australians."
The federal government's COVID-19 taskforce commander, Lieutenant General John Frewen, revealed on Thursday 2,616 Australians under 40 have chosen to have the AstraZeneca vaccine since Monday evening.
“It’s really important that Australians have now got a choice about whether they make an informed decision about accessing AstraZeneca,” he told reporters.
“We’ve got AstraZeneca available and I think Australians who want to should be able to have a conversation with their GP about whether they access that vaccine now.”
Additional reporting by AAP.
