General News
8 July, 2022
FREE TO READ: COVID-19 fourth dose available
A FOURTH COVID-19 vaccine booster shot will be available next week for Australians over the age of 30.
A FOURTH COVID-19 vaccine booster shot will be available next week for Australians over the age of 30.
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has made the recommendation for adults aged 50 to 64 years to receive their fourth “winter” booster dose to help reduce the symptoms of the emerging Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants.
Adults aged 30 to 49 years are eligible to receive their fourth “winter” booster dose, should they choose to do so.
The recommended wait between contracting COVID-19 and getting the fourth booster dose is three months.
ATAGI stated that people previously eligible for the winter booster dose remain at a higher risk and death from COVID-19, including people aged 65 years and older and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders 50 years and older.
People aged 16 and over with medical conditions or disabilities that would increase the harm of COVID-19, aged-care and disability residents and severely immunocompromised people are also already eligible for their fourth dose.
The fourth COVID-19 vaccines come as the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants surge across Australia that has put an increased strain on the healthcare system. The surge is expected to worsen in the coming months.
ATAGI stated that the variants can partly escape the immune response generated by both prior vaccination and infection and that the first COVD-19 booster shot showed an increase in the immune response to the variants, but wavered after several weeks. The second booster dose is expected to increase the immune response again.
By reducing the wait interval between vaccines from four months to three, ATAGI predicts it will provide earlier protection as infection rates rise.
ATAGI currently does not support a fourth winter dose for healthy adults under the age of 30, unless previously eligible under guidelines, as it is unclear whether the benefits outweigh the risks of the population.