Fourth coronavirus jab not yet recommended for healthy Australians under 65

Infectious disease experts are divided on whether the healthy Australian population aged 65 and under will need to receive a fourth jab later this year.

It is not yet known whether healthy Australians under the age of 65 will need to roll up their sleeves to receive a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine later this year.

In March, the Australian Technical Advisory Group (ATAGI) recommended that a fourth jab be administered to Australians before winter who are severely immunocompromised, aged 65 and over, residents of aged care or disability care facilities and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 50 and older.

The Australian Technical Advisory Group recommended that a fourth jab be administered to specific groups of Australians before winter. Picture: Getty Images

But, the group stopped short of recommending a fourth dose to people not found in those groups saying that there was insufficient evidence of the benefits of doing so, and that it would “continue to monitor emerging evidence and may recommend an additional dose” for these Australians in the future.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that epidemiologist, infectious disease physician and former co-chair of the ATAGI, Professor Allen Cheng, said that it was not yet known whether all Australians would require a fourth dose for coronavirus by the end of 2022, and that there were no plans for a rollout of the jab any time soon.

“What the evidence suggests so far is that giving another dose in the younger people protects them a little bit more, but that effect is probably quite short term. And what the evidence also suggests is that they are still substantially protected by three doses”, Professor Cheng said.

Professor Allen Cheng said that there were no immediate plans for a rollout of a fourth dose. Picture: Getty Images

Professor Cheng estimated that roughly 30 percent of Australians now had coronavirus and that the majority of Australians had been triple vaccinated in the December 2021/January 2022 period. He noted that even though it was more than four months since these Australians had been jabbed, Professor Cheng said that they would still be protected throughout winter this year.

The leader of Monash University’s epidemiological modelling unit, Associate Professor James Trauer told the Herald that even if a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine was rolled out, it should not be mandated across the board.

“At some point with the vaccine mandates we’ve really got to say that three doses is enough to be considered fully vaccinated,” Associate Professor Trauer said.

“We can’t make keep moving the goalposts again and again.”