coming weeks
become the dominant COVID strains
in the as BA.4 and BA.5 . Health experts say the strains’ high transmissability combined with our waning immunity from previous infection and vaccine boosters were already causing numbers to spike and it’s only going to get worse. So what is going on with our fourth doses?
Some people like the elderly or immunocompromised are already eligible for a fourth COVID vaccine — my 93y.o. grandma got hers months ago. The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) is reportedly meeting this week to consider booster eligibility in the face of surging cases. But most of us are still not able to get our next boosters.
Fourth doses are only recommended for people at highest risk of severe disease.
ATAGI recommended back in March , as well as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 50 and over. All residents of aged and disability care facilities are also eligible, as is anyone aged 16 or older with severe immune problems.
ATAGI expaded fourth dose eligibility in May to include people with a that increases the risk of severe illness and those with a disability who have significant or complex health needs or multiple comorbidities that increase the risk of poor outcomes from COVID-19.
Otherwise ATAGI has found three doses, especially when combined with prior infection, offer good protection against severe disease, hospitalisation and death.
Basically there are no plans. The said: “Healthy people aged 16 to 64 years, who do not have a risk factor for severe COVID-19, are not recommended to receive an additional winter booster dose at this time, as their risk of severe illness after their first booster dose is likely to remain very low.”
But things have changed a bit since then, haven’t they!
Butler said this week , even with the advancing third wave threat.
Because ATAGI is the government body which doles out the health advice, federal and state leaders have remained strong with the line that they’ll wait for official health advice before telling anyone what to do.
“That’s not an easy decision to make,” Victorian Premier .
“I’m very confident ATAGI takes these matters very seriously,” he said.
But they are ramping up the campaign to get people boosted with their third shots.
“If you haven’t your full three, put it bluntly, you’re crazy. You should go and get them. That’s what is going to make a difference to stopping or at least reducing the chances of you ending up in hospital or ending up possibly dying,” NSW Health Minister said on Tuesday.
And while there may be pressure building behind the scenes for expanded fourth dose eligibility, pressure from the public or within the public eye is pretty low. Especially when only about . Honestly who is still dragging their feet on this?
In the meantime health experts and (Queensland has the lowest vax rates of all the staes and territories) are encouraging us to mask up again and get your damn third vax if you haven’t yet.
A from May 2022 found BA.4 and BA.5 to be about 36 per cent more infectious than BA.2, the strain that borked us all earlier this year. So there is *some* urgency here.
An Australian study released last week also found that here, in this very country, having a third dose provided against hospitalisation and death compared to only two doses, with the results especially significant for people aged over 70.
So yes, all signs point to: get your fkn third vax and sign up for your fourth as soon as it’s available.
Who’s eligibe for a fourth dose now?
a fourth dose for everyone aged over 65 medical conditionWhen are the rest of us meant to be eligible?
latest government update from May 27What’s happening with fourth doses now?
he thought a major deicision from ATAGI anytime soon was unlikely“Maybe ATAGI doesn’t make any change or maybe it simply reduces the age threshold down to something like 50 or 55 as we’ve seen in some other countries,” he said.
“I’d be surprised if there was a full scale addition to the entire population, but we’ll wait and see what their decision is.”
Daniel Andrews said on Tuesday Brad Hazzard70 per cent of the population has received a third dose the Queensland governmentNSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard says those who haven’t had third dose of COVID vaccine are ‘crazy’. He is ramping up messaging on third dose to prevent hospitalisation in potential next wave. No new rules announced yet, just reinforcement of current measures. #nswcovid
— Isobel Roe (@isobelroe) July 5, 2022
Gimme the stats, why is a booster important rn?
report 65 per cent greater protectionThe post A Third COVID Wave Is Coming In Hot So When Are We Gonna Get Our Fourth Doses? appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
