Covid-19 booster shot rollout needed for frontline workers, expert says

With severely immunocompromised Queenslanders offered their third Covid-19 shot from next week, another critical cohort has emerged that will require urgent attention.

Severely immunocompromised Queenslanders will be offered their third Covid-19 jab from next week, with an infectious diseases expert warning urgent consideration for booster shots was needed for another critical cohort.

Australia’s expert panel on vaccines on Friday recommended the estimated 500,000 people nationally who are severely immunocompromised be offered a Covid-19 booster shot to “maximise the level of immune response to as close as possible to the general population”.

The cohort includes those being treated for cancer or organ failure, who are on therapies that dampen the immune system or taking certain steroids, or who are born with immunodeficiencies.

The timing of the third shot for the cohort should be between two and six months after their second shot, according to the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation.

Pfizer or Moderna are the preferred booster shot vaccines, though AstraZeneca can also be used for patients who received it as their initial doses.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said he was expecting ATAGI recommendations on third Covid-19 jab doses for the general population later this month.

Infectious disease expert Professor Raina MacIntyre said international data showed protection against Covid-19 from the vaccine began to wane after five to six months.

Raina MacIntyre

And with most health workers getting the jab at the beginning of the rollout, booster shots for frontline workers needed to be urgently considered.

“We have seen multiple infections in fully vaccinated health workers, including critical illness and at least one needing ventilation in ICU,” she said.

“The reopening of society will stress the health system, and we need health workers still standing — their safety is a priority.”

Waning immunity for a majority of the community will be noticeable by February 2022 according to Prof MacIntyre, with a booster shot program for older people needed by then.

The Federal Government said there was now enough Covid-19 vaccine supply to offer every Australian a first or second jab during October.

Queensland GPs are gearing up to begin receiving stocks of the Moderna vaccine from next year to use as booster shots, a plan the federal government had flagged earlier this year.

The mRNA vaccine has already been made available in community pharmacies, with Pharmacy Guild of Australia Queensland branch president Chris Owen confirming 41,000 Moderna jabs had gone into arms since it became available two weeks ago.

But Queensland is still lagging behind the rest of the nation in the vaccination race, with the state expected to hit the 70 per cent single jab milestone by the end of Saturday at the latest on current projections.

Fifty-one per cent of people aged 16 and older in the state are fully vaccinated.

By comparison, in NSW and the ACT over 70 per cent of people are already fully vaccinated.