Australia recommends fifth dose of vaccine as new Covid wave builds | World News

Australian health authorities are advising against a fifth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, although they are urging eligible people to sign up for the remaining booster doses as the country’s latest wave of COVID-19 vaccines ramps up.

The average daily case count last week was 47% higher than the previous week, Health Secretary Mark Butler said at a news conference Tuesday announcing the new vaccination recommendations. But the number of cases remains 85% below the previous peak in late July.

Butler said the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (ATAGI) had advised against a fifth or third booster dose because evidence from the latest wave of vaccinations in Singapore showed that serious illness and death were rare among vaccinated people and that the first Five has negligible impact on the spread of the virus.

“ATAGI considered international evidence as well as local data on the number of vaccinations administered, as well as the number of cases in the pandemic, and decided not to recommend a fifth dose,” Butler said.

“They point out that for people who had received at least two doses of the COVID vaccine, severe illness and death in Singapore were very rare during that wave.”

The new booster proposal is due early next year ahead of the southern hemisphere winter.

read more: U.S. imposes sanctions on military procurement network aiding Russia

Butler urged those who had not yet received the recommended number of shots to do so, with 5.5 million Australians – or about one in five of the population – yet to receive a third dose despite being eligible.

Butler also accepted ATAGI’s recommendation to approve Pfizer’s Omicron-specific vaccine as a booster dose for adults; 4.7 million doses will arrive before rollout begins on Dec. 12.

The company’s vaccine for children aged 6 months to 5 years will also be approved for use in severely immunocompromised people.

Speaking alongside Butler, Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said Singapore’s experience showed that the current wave of infections would peak quickly and cases would then decline rapidly.