Fourth COVID-19 vaccine now available for those aged 30+

An additional 7.4 million Australians will be eligible to receive a fourth (winter) COVID-19 vaccine dose from Monday, 11 July, after the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) updated its recommendations.

ATAGI specifically recommended that people aged 50 to 64 years should have their fourth dose — which they are encouraged to book as soon as possible — while people aged 30 to 49 years may choose to have a fourth shot if they wish. ATAGI also recommended the interval between vaccine doses, or prior SARS-CoV-2 infection (whichever comes later), be reduced from four months to three months to provide earlier protection.

This expanded eligibility is intended to help provide additional protection from infection with the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, which can partly escape the immune response generated by both prior vaccination and infection. It should also reduce the burden on Australian hospitals and the healthcare system in coming months, which are currently being inundated with patients suffering from respiratory virus infections including COVID-19.

While rates of hospitalisation, severe disease and death from COVID-19 are low in healthy people aged 30 to 49 years, factors such as time off work and the risk of long COVID may influence an individual’s personal decision to have a winter booster dose. ATAGI does not at this time support making the fourth dose available to healthy adults under the age of 30 years, saying it was not clear whether the benefits outweighed the risks in this population group.

That said, the Group has expressed concern that the take-up of the first booster dose, and the fourth dose among those who had already been eligible, has not been high enough, so far reaching 70.6% and 59.5% of the respective eligible populations. ATAGI reiterated that people who were already eligible for the fourth dose, including those aged 65 years and over, remain at higher risk of severe disease and death from COVID-19, and so should have their fourth dose as soon as possible.

The news comes just over a week after the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) indicated that Pfizer Australia is now eligible to apply for provisional registration for extending the use of its COVID-19 vaccine to children aged six months and older in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods. Currently, the vaccine is provisionally approved for use in individuals five years of age and older.

Provisional determination is the first step in the provisional registration process. Approval and potential supply in Australia would only commence should the vaccine be approved as safe and effective by the TGA and recommended for administration to this age group by ATAGI. It does not mean an application for use in this age group has been made and it does not mean any subsequent application would be approved.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Seventyfour

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