Millions of Australians will now be required to receive a fourth dose of the Covid vaccine.
Residents over the age of 65, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over 50, the immunocompromised and people living with a disability and living in aged care will need to get another jab.
The fourth dose will be given four months after a resident has received their booster and it is being touted by the government as the ‘winter dose’.
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation made the recommendation for an additional jab to the federal government on Thursday.
Millions of Australians will now be required to receive a fourth dose of the Covid vaccine
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation made the recommendation for an additional jab to the federal government on Thursday
Health Minister Greg Hunt anticipated an extra dose would be necessary amid concerns cases could rise further during the upcoming winter, combined with flu cases, which have been largely absent in Australia since the start of the pandemic.
Australia has seen a spike in Covid infections in recent days due to an Omicron sub-variant.
However, Mr Hunt said he was confident the country’s health system would be able to withstand any additional surges of cases.
‘We’re now on yesterday’s numbers at 26 Australians who are on ventilation. We have a 7,500-person capacity, and with COVID, there are 26,’ he said.
‘Vaccinations, the treatments that are available, the capacity of our hospital systems, all of those things have come together, and that’s one of the elements which has contributed to one of the lowest rates of loss of life in the world.’
It comes as the government announced a multi-billion dollar agreement with pharmaceutical giant Modena for an mRNA vaccine hub.
The research and development hub will be based in Victoria at a location yet to be decided, and serve as the headquarters for the company’s operations in Australia, south-east Asia and Oceania.
The hub will be the first of its type in the southern hemisphere, with construction to begin by the end of the year.
Production at the site is expected to start from 2024.
Health Minister Greg Hunt anticipated an extra dose would be necessary amid concerns cases could rise further during the upcoming winter, combined with flu cases, which have been largely absent in Australia since the start of the pandemic
The fourth dose will be given four months after the resident received their booster shot
While the facility will manufacture COVID-19 vaccines, it will also focus on other respiratory illnesses, including seasonal flu and respiratory syncytial virus.
The manufacturing hub is expected to produce about 100 million mRNA vaccines annually.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison called the facility a ‘shot in the arm’ to help protect Australians from future pandemics.
‘What we’re announcing today is absolutely essential for future pandemic preparedness, and we’re already ranked number two in the world on pandemic preparedness,’ he told reporters in Melbourne.
Mr Hunt said the facility could potentially produce a combined COVID-19 and flu vaccine.
‘Moderna has looked around the world and they partnered with Australia, and we have partnered with them,’ he said.
‘mRNA isn’t just about COVID, it isn’t just about vaccines, it’s also about the precision medicines of the future so we can literally tailor the treatments for individuals over the course of the next decade.’
NSW school staff and students could soon be wearing masks again as new regulations are introduced to combat a surging Covid sub-variant.
More rapid antigen tests will be supplied to teachers and students in NSW, and new measures are being rolled out to help schools continue to operate through the surging number of Covid-19 cases. Pictured is a student talking to a teacher
Under the new NSW regulations, which were announced on Wednesday, more rapid antigen tests will be supplied to teachers and students, and staff, adult visitors or high school students could be required to wear masks indoors.
Assemblies and large gatherings could also be moved outdoors to help schools continue to operate through the spike in cases.
In Queensland, chief health officer ruled out introducing more coronavirus restrictions despite the emergence of BA.2.
Dr John Gerrard said state infections jumped by 15 per cent in the past week, with more than half the cases in the past fortnight identified as BA.2.
He said since BA.2 was first discovered by Queensland Health in December it has spread to more than 90 countries.
‘In the last two weeks we have seen 58 per cent of the virus sequenced in Queensland identified as BA.2,’ he said.
‘It will be by far and away the dominant strain virus in Australia within weeks.’
However Dr Gerrard is not considering reintroducing any mandates, at least not yet.
‘A legal restriction from the chief health officer is a very serious thing to undertake,’ he said.
Pictured is a Year 12 student getting a Covid-19 vaccination shot at Qudos Arena in Sydney
