2023 COVID-19 booster vaccine available for Aust adults

The Australian Government today announced that all adults who have not had a COVID-19 booster or a confirmed case of COVID-19 in the past six months will soon be able to get another booster to give them additional protection against severe illness, as per advice from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI).

The recommendation for a booster, which comes into effect on 20 February, is for people whose most recent COVID-19 vaccine or infection was six or more months ago, irrespective of how many prior doses that person has received. ATAGI has particularly recommended that everyone at risk of severe illness — that is, everyone aged 65 years and over as well as younger adults who have medical comorbidities, disability or complex health needs — have a 2023 booster dose. An additional booster will not be provided for under 18s, except where children aged 5–17 have health conditions that would put them at risk of severe illness.

For this booster dose, all available COVID-19 vaccines are anticipated to provide a benefit; however, Pfizer and Moderna’s bivalent mRNA booster vaccines are preferred over other vaccines as these are designed to target Omicron subvariants. The government advised that it has 4 million Omicron-specific booster doses available right now and another 10 million arriving this month, marking the largest supply of new vaccines into the Australian COVID-19 vaccine program since late 2021.

The vaccine booster advice from ATAGI is specific to the current Australian context in early 2023; Australian adults should thus aim to receive their booster dose prior to June 2023. ATAGI has said that ongoing surveillance of COVID-19 infection rates, new variants and vaccine effectiveness will determine any future recommendations it makes concerning additional booster doses.

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