Bro Goldfishman seems to be an Asian, so the South Korea experience and now the Taiwan experience could be useful to him. I might be wrong but the minimal risk of blood clotting for AZ seems to be a little bit higher for Caucasian than Asian based on the South Korean and now the Taiwanese experience.

South Korea is I believe the first Asian country which very early widely administers AZ to its residents and a number of young medical staff aged between 20 to 40 did suffer the blood clots problem with a very few number of them died (mostly female) as a result, they then restricted the use of AZ to people aged 30 and above. Having used all of its AZ stock and with plenty of supply of Pfizer already in stock and on the way, the South Korean Govt has changed the use of AZ to people over 50. There is no choice of vaccines in South Korea.

For Taiwan, most of the people there are taking AZ as there is very limited supply of Moderna and Pfizer and there is no older people suffering from the blood clot problem leading to deaths. They have nearly exhausted all their AZ now and awaiting supply. Taiwan is also developing their own vaccines like the South Korean though won’t be available at least at the end of the year.

The number of blood clots cases in Australia appear to be higher than the Asian countries like South Korea and Taiwan and perhaps Asian genes make them a little bit less vulnerable to the blood clots side effects than their western counterparts though it is my observations only not scientifically supported. Even so, the chance of blood clotting problem based on the Australian and British experience so far is only 1 in 100,000 and causing death only 1 in 250,000.

It seems Asian male over 50 years old is very safe to take AZ. The 12-week apart between doses is a disincentive but now in NSW it has reduced to 4 weeks. Also it is likely that Australia will follow the British experience of supplementing AZ recipient with a booster of Pfizer when the supply of Pfizer later in the year is greatly increased.

If you want to remain active interacting with others in the next few months, it is sensible to get vaccinated with AZ ASAP to protect yourself and those you interact with.

All depends on the vaccination rate now as to when the shops will be allowed to reopen.