Three Covid-19 jabs considered ‘up-to-date’, mandate for aged care extended
The PM and state premiers have agreed to extend the vaccine mandate to three doses in at least one setting.
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Booster Covid-19 vaccines will only be mandated nationally in aged care, with states left to go it alone if they want to impose the jab on tourists, following advice the third dose is now considered “up-to-date”.
National cabinet agreed on Thursday night not to mandate three doses beyond the aged care workforce, with premiers noting it would be difficult to enforce wider public health orders, such as on international travellers, due to many countries not having a booster program at all.
During the meeting NSW, Victoria and Queensland also agreed to work on a plan with key federal agencies like Australian Border Force and the Department of Health to restart international cruise ship arrivals.
The meeting heard Prime Minister Scott Morrison has commissioned a “winter preparedness audit” to be completed by the second week of March to ensure health systems are ready for an expected wave of Covid-19 and the flu combined.
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) on Thursday released advice recommending three jabs offered people the best protection against Covid-19, but made no ruling on mandates.
“This ‘up-to-date’ guidance serves as the basis for policies for the public health management of the Covid-19 pandemic in a domestic context,” ATAGI said in a statement.
Infectious diseases expert Professor Peter Collignon welcomed the guidance, but said it was “premature” to mandate boosters for activities like “travel or going to a restaurant”.
“All the available data is that for older people, those over 50 or 60 years old, you need a third dose to protect you from serious disease and death from Covid,” he said.
“I don’t think the data is clear in 20 and 30-year-olds, and certainly there’s no real data in children.”
Prof Collignon said it was “quite different” to mandate a vaccine than recommend it.
“For an individual there’s a great reason to get the booster to protect yourself, but from a public health point of view it’s less clear.”
Ahead of the new advice, Premier Dominic Perrottet said he would advocate for “national consistency” in the approach to mandates.
“My understanding is from what the Prime Minister said yesterday is that the requirements in relation to overseas travellers coming into Australia, that it would be the two-dose vaccination that would be required,” he told Today.
Under the new ATAGI advice all individuals aged 16 and over are recommended to receive a third booster dose from three months after their second to maintain an “up-to-date” vaccination status.
“A person will be considered ‘overdue’ if a booster has not been received within 6 months of completing their primary schedule,” ATAGI said.
ATAGI acknowledged the new definition of “up-to-date” could impact a person’s Covid-19 vaccine certificate, and recommended implementation of the change be made effective by the end of March 2022.
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