Why your choice of Covid vaccine 'DOESN'T matter' as doctors explain AstraZeneca is as good as any other jab - and how many Aussies need it to end dreaded lockdowns

Top doctors are urging Australians not to wait for their 'favourite vaccine' and instead get a Covid-19 jab as soon as possible. 

Dr Nick Coatsworth said 'real world data' shows the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines are both equivalent in terms of effectiveness against coronavirus.

AstraZeneca gives 92 per cent protection from hospitalisation or death, while Pfizer gives 96 per cent, which he called 'equivalent'.

The former Deputy Chief Medical Officer, who spend all of last year shaping Australia's national pandemic policies, said Australia's fear of the AstraZeneca inoculation has become a 'significant barrier' to getting Australians vaccinated. 

Top doctors (Dr Nick Coatsworth, left, and Professor Tony Blakely, right) are urging Australians not to wait for their 'favourite vaccine' and instead get a Covid-19 jab as soon as possible

The Oxford University designed dose has been linked to extremely rare blood clotting in Australia and throughout the world, and in some even more rare cases proving fatal.

Two women, aged 48 and 52, have died in Australia after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine, prompting the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation to only recommend the British jab, which the federal government was relying on for the bulk of its rollout, to people over 60.

But last week, with four states and territories in lockdown after multiple outbreaks, Prime Minister Scott Morrison walked back the recommendation and said those wishing to receive the vaccine should speak to their doctor. 

A registered nurse administers the Pfizer vaccine to a client at the St Vincent's Covid-19 Vaccination Clinic on July 1 in Sydney - with Australians urged to get jabbed as soon as possible

Locked down Sydneysiders are pictured in Rushcutters Bay Park on July 4 with much of the nation still not vaccinated

'We have to, as a community, accept the reality that it is a tiny tiny risk,' Dr Coatsworth told Channel Nine's 60 Minutes.

'We are talking about one in a million deaths and tragically that has happened to two Australians.'

But he says the medical community is now 'much better' at detecting the potential side effects than before. 

'My personal advice is that it’s no good having a vaccine sitting on the shelf, it needs to be in your arm and I would counsel those who are eligible for the AstraZeneca vaccine not to wait and to get vaccinated today.

'We now know from real world data from the UK, that even for the Delta variant, two doses of Astra gives you 92 per cent protection from hospitalisation and death and Pfiser - two doses give you 96 per cent protection.

'So they are equivalent in terms of effectiveness.'   

Prof Coatsworth said  the medical community is now much better at detecting the potential side effects in vaccines than before. Pictured: Sydneysiders under lockdown in Rushcutters Bay Park on July 4

An enrolled nurse administers the Pfizer vaccine to a client at the St Vincent's Covid-19 Vaccination Clinic on July 1

While many are expecting life will return to normal next year after Australia's botched vaccine rollout gets back on track, epidemiologist Professor Tony Blakely warned 'that won't happen' unless vaccination rates are very high.

The public health expert said a vaccination rate of well over 90 per cent would be required to get back to our 'pre-Covid' lifestyles - a figure that's highly unlikely to be achieved.

'(If you think) we vaccinate, I throw my mask away, we tell all the contact tracers to go home, we are back to rugby scrums in the pub, we are all safe - that’s not happening,' he said.

Prof Blakely said a target of about 70 per cent is a much more realistic target. 

While many are expecting life will return to normal next year after Australia's botched vaccine rollout gets back on track, epidemiologist Professor Tony Blakely says 'that won't happen' (pictured, diners pictured in Melbourne after the city eased restrictions)

Masks could here to stay unless vaccination rates improve, scientists warn. A woman in a face mask carrying a baby is pictured at Bondi Beach on July 2

But even if two thirds of the county are vaccinated he says 'masks are here to stay'.

'Ongoing mask wearing in appropriate environments with contact tracing and occasionally going into restrictions like reducing the density of restaurants and pubs by half should get us to a point where we are resilient,' Prof Blakely said. 

By then, people should be able to visit Australia without having to undergo hotel quarantine, he said.

Prof Blakely believes we won't reach that point until about Easter next year, 'if things go well'.