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Give it a boost
Greg Hunt with COVID-19 Taskforce Commander , Lieutenant General John Frewen , at a press conference in Parliament House . Picture : NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage
Pfizer boosters approved , aged care residents are up first .
By Conor Burke
The government has announced that COVID-19 vaccination booster shots have been approved by the regulator , with aged care residents at the head of the queue .
The Therapeutic Goods Administration ( TGA ) has approved a booster dose of the Pfizer vaccination for adults 18 years and over , at least six months after their first dose of the vaccine .
Greg Hunt , minister for health and aged care , said that subject to final advice from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation ( ATAGI ), he expected the new round of vaccination would commence “ no later than 8 November ”. “ Original priority groups , including people in aged care and disability care settings , [ are ] to be offered the option to receive a booster as a priority ,” he said .
In his statement , Hunt said that Australia , “ a vaccination nation ”, has administered 34.6 million COVID-19 vaccines to date , with 87 per cent of eligible Australians aged 16 and older having received a first dose and over 74 per cent have now received a second dose .
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Australians who are severely immunocompromised have already been eligible for the third shot since October 11 , and the news of a booster shot will be welcome to many in aged care as Australia continues to open back up .
However there has been no clear word on whether aged care staff will be included in the booster program .
ACSA chief executive Paul Sadler said booster shots for staff must be a priority and that lessons should be learned from the original rollout .
“ On-site vaccination teams are the best way to make it easy ,” he said .
“ ATAGI and the TGA are yet to confirm the rollout date in early November . If it does start in November , unfortunately , it means that a separate booster program is needed for staff . Especially since staff were vaccinated en masse much later than the residents they care for .
“ Until this happens , we must continue using other measures , such as Rapid Antigen Testing and safe re-opening of visitations in areas of concern . ACSA will continue to advocate for mandatory vaccination for home care staff across all jurisdictions .”
When asked by journalists if booster shots would be mandatory for workers
“ There has been no clear word on whether aged care staff will be included in the booster program .
already subject to vaccine mandates , Minister Hunt was vague .
“ At this stage , there ’ s no plan or intention . And again , the Commonwealth has not been mandating other than in the aged care staff setting ,” he said .
“ At the moment , we ’ re at 99.8 per cent , and I want to thank all of those staff for participating in that . And again , we ’ ll always follow the medical advice . So , I ’ ll leave that to individual states or territories ,” he said .
Meanwhile , ACSA believes that the sector needs more clarity .
“ The messaging about vaccines and eligibility is already confusing . We need to make it clear , easy and fast to give aged care the best protection possible from the virus when it is certain to be circulating in the community .
“ We are concerned that a whole-ofpopulation rollout might mean our workers end up behind when they should be in front ,” Sadler said . ■