“It was very small, like a mozzie bite.” Those were the words of Gladstone and Banana Shire Director of Medical Services Dr Dilip Kumar after receiving the port city’s first AstraZeneca COVID vaccination on Wednesday morning. Despite calls to pause the AstraZeneca rollout due to a few people experiencing blood clots, the emergency physician said he had complete confidence the vaccine was safe. “It is very safe, the benefit far outweighs the risk from the vaccine and the risk is very minimal,” he said. Dr Kumar said the Therapeutic Goods Administration used world leading clinical testing methods and everyone should be confident of the AstraZeneca vaccine’s efficacy.