Australians to get Covid-19 booster shot one month earlier to combat Omicron strain

Millions of Australians across the nation are now able to get their booster shot one month earlier, after the Government acted on advice received from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI). Accordingly  the wait for a booster shot has been reduced from six months after a second vaccination to just five months.

Amid global concerns over the spread of the Omicron variant , the Federal Government has granted early access to a COVID-19 booster shot,  which means an extra 1.5 million Australians will be eligible for their third jab from Sunday (12) and about two million more will be eligible by the end of the year.

ATAGI has also given the final approval required for Moderna to be offered as a booster shot, alongside Pfizer as the preferred vaccines, regardless of which vaccine people received for their first two jabs.

The government recently bought 25 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, with 15 million of those slated to be used in the first half of 2022 as boosters.

"Australia's whole-of-population booster program is supported by more than 151 million Pfizer, Novavax and Moderna vaccines secured for supply into the future," Health Minister Greg Hunt said.

 “Australia is well prepared to provide booster doses as approvals are provided by the medical experts,” Mr Hunt said.

“Australia is a vaccination nation, with more than 40 million Covid-19 vaccines having been administered to date. Over 93 per cent of eligible Australians aged 16 and older have received a first dose and over 89 per cent have now received a second dose.”