Australians may soon have to get a third dose to be considered fully vaccinated, as an expert taskforce weighs the evidence on the Omicron variant’s ability to evade vaccines and state governments push for earlier boosters.
Australians may soon have to get a third dose to be considered fully vaccinated, as an expert taskforce weighs the evidence on the Omicron variant’s ability to evade vaccines and state governments push to bring forward the timing of booster shots.
“Implementation of mask-wearing measures should occur prior to Omicron case escalation to have maximum benefit.” meets requirements for full vaccination status, noting that there will be significant considerations for implementation if this definition changes”. Some GPs and pharmacists have been turning away people seeking booster shots, either because they do not have any vaccine doses or patients are requesting them earlier than five months, even though ATAGI has advised that people who will be due for a booster by January 3 may have one now.
Melbourne University epidemiologist Tony Blakely said it was “bordering on unethical” to deny early booster shots to people aged over 60 in Victoria and NSW who had two AstraZeneca doses, as preliminary research showed it gave low protection against the new variant.