A fifth Covid vaccine dose is set to be be made available to all Australian adults in just over a fortnight.
Last night, the Federal Government accepted the advice of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI), which recommended the fifth dose to all people aged over 18, who have not had either a COVID-19 vaccine or confirmed coronavirus case in the last six months.
Until now, the fifth dose has only been available to people who are immunocompromised and more at risk of serious illness.
The announcement also enables those aged 18-29 to get their hands on a fourth dose, which was previously only available to those as risk of severe illness or aged 30 and over.
The Government has 4 million Omicron-specific booster doses available now, with Mr Butler confirming that another 10 million were expected to arrive this month.
While uptake of the first two vaccine doses was high across the nation, the number of Australians rolling up their sleeves third and fourth doses has lagged behind. Statistics show that, while 72.4% of Australians are triple vaccinated, but only 5,444,360 Australians have had a fourth dose.
The fifth dose is set to be rolled out from February 20.
More to come.
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