People in Aus have had serious side effects from AZ who almost certainly wouldn't have been badly effected by covid (speaking purely statistically). The government are very aware of this, especially after the recent AZ death of the younger woman in Sydney.

Of course it's very statistically rare - but then again so is serious covid side effects. We have to remember that most people who get covid are fine, and when considering younger healthy demographics the risk is very close 0%. Remember, influenza is worse than covid in young people. Covid really gets quite dangerous and overtakes influenza for older people and people with comorbidities.

So mandating AZ for people is a very bad look and it kind of does go against health advice (Pfizer remains preferred for under...40s? 60s?)

It's a shit situation. It's a real shame our vaccine didn't pass (the HIV false positive one). Apparently that was going really well.