Up-to-date COVID vaccination now includes booster

The Australian Government has announced it has received new advice from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) regarding what constitutes being ‘up to date’ with regard to COVID-19 vaccines — advice which the government has accepted.

Under the advice, a person is ‘up to date’ if they have completed all the doses recommended for their age and individual health needs. ATAGI recommends that everyone aged 16 years and older receive a booster dose three months after their primary course, to maintain the best protection and an ‘up to date’ status. If it has been longer than six months since a person’s primary course and they haven’t had a booster, they will no longer be considered ‘up to date’ and instead will be considered ‘overdue’.

ATAGI advises that people under 16 years of age will continue to be considered ‘up to date’ after completing their primary course of vaccination, while severely immunocompromised people aged five years and older require a third primary dose to remain up to date. This advice does not cover the vaccination requirements relating to international border settings.

The announcement coincides with the news that the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine (Nuvaxovid), which was approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and ATAGI last month, will be rolled out as of today — 10 days earlier than expected.

The first shipment of Nuvaxovid, containing around 3 million doses, arrived in Australia on 7 February; another 48 million more are expected to arrive over the coming weeks to make up Australia's full order of 51 million doses. The vaccine was set to be supplied to GPs, pharmacies and state hubs across the country for use from 21 February, following batch testing by the TGA, but that process took less time than expected and so the vaccine is now available.

Minister for Health Greg Hunt said those who have been waiting for Novavax should contact their GP clinic so that the clinic can sign on to the Novavax rollout program. He added that an application for Novavax to be considered for boosters will come before the TGA soon.

Finally, the TGA this week provisionally approved a booster dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, Vaxzevria, for individuals aged 18 years and older. The TGA noted that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines (Pfizer’s Comirnaty or Moderna’s Spikevax) are preferred as the booster dose in Australia, including for people who received AstraZeneca for their primary course, but the decision to receive Vaxzevria may be made by individuals in consultation with a medical professional. This may include patients who had strong side effects to the mRNA vaccines or have histories of myocarditis and pericarditis.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Edson Souza

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