Australians over the age of 30 will be eligible to receive a fourth COVID-19 shot as early as next week, as more cases of the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 emerge. This comes after the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) met on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of expanding eligibility for the fourth shot to age groups under 65, which Health Minister Mark Butler has confirmed will now be the case for everyone over 30.
Previously, only people over 65, those in aged or disability care facilities, and immunocompromised people were eligible to receive the fourth shot, otherwise known as the second booster. Dr. Chris Moy, vice president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA), said on Thursday that ATAGI had based their decision on preventing severe disease, infection, as well as whether the benefit outweighed the risk.
“And until now, the evidence from Israel has been that the protection from severe disease after just your first booster sustained for a long period of time, and the only evidence for a fourth shot has been for those over the age of 60, where they showed an additional benefit of reducing the risk of severe disease,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.