Change to booster shot eligibility for thousands of Tasmanians
Thousands of Tasmanians will become eligible for their booster shot earlier than expected, with time in between second and third vaccines set to reduce from four months to three. LATEST >>
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THE waiting period for booster shots will be cut to three months from next week as the government tries to ward off vaccine complacency in the community and keep Covid infections in check.
As of February 1, the wait between the second and third vaccine jab for adults is set to be reduced from four months to three, meaning 66,000 more Tasmanians will be eligible for a booster.
The move brings Tasmania in line with mainland states NSW, Victoria, South Australia and the ACT, who have already brought third doses forward to three months.
So far, more than 145,000 Tasmanians over the age of 18, or 33.1 per cent, have had their booster, but Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff said the numbers could be higher.
“It’s also a timely reminder that there are still 60,000 people aged 50 and over who haven’t had their booster, leaving them more vulnerable to the potentially serious effects of Covid,” Mr Rockliff said.
“We’ve seen from the experience in other countries and across the world that the booster is the best way to strengthen your immunity and continue protecting yourself, your family and the community against the Omicron variant.
“Now is not the time to be complacent.”
Tasmanians are encouraged to check when they will become eligible and book in their booster.
“Thousands of booster appointments are available in state-run vaccination centres across Tasmania,” Mr Rockliff said.
“Bookings are also available at pharmacies and GPs who are doing a phenomenal job administering boosters in record numbers.”
Mr Rockliff said 55,000 vaccinations had been administered in the past two weeks, the highest since the rollout began last year.
Primary Industries Minister Guy Barnett echoed the message on Monday during his first government appearance since he recovered from Covid-19.
“As someone who has had Covid recently, I wanted to encourage Tasmanians who haven’t had their first or second vaccination or booster to book in and have your vaccination or booster,” Mr Barnett said.
“I had very mild symptoms with members of my family, flu-like symptoms.”
The Australian Medical Association has also urged Tasmanians not to be complacent when it comes to Covid, warning there could be more positive cases in the community than what’s recorded.
“Because we’re now into the third year of the pandemic, people might now be getting complacent,” AMA Tasmania president Dr Helen McArdle said.
“We have to keep pushing that message that anyone with symptoms should get tested.
“There are probably many more cases in the community we just don’t know about either because they are so mild, or people have no symptoms whatsoever.”
Dr McArdle said it was encouraging to see lower daily case numbers.
“It certainly seems to be stabilising around Australia and hospitalisations seem to be slightly dropping,” Dr McArdle said.
“We hope we’ve reached the peak and we hope we’re going to start declining, but as we know, things can change rapidly.”
Covid cases decrease for seventh day in a row
Monday, January 24
Tasmania’s daily Covid cases have decreased for a seventh day in a row, with 619 cases recorded in the 24 hours until 8pm on Sunday.
The number of cases in hospital has continued to climb with 41 people in hospital with the virus, an increase of two from the last reporting period.
The Department of Health said 17 of those patients are being treated specifically for COVID-19 symptoms and 24 are being treated for unrelated medical conditions.
The number of patients in the ICU remains the same at 3, while 16 people are in community case management facilities and 302 are participating in the covid@home program
In total, there are 5563 active cases in Tasmania, with 706 people released from isolation in the last reporting period.
Number of people hospitalised with Covid rises
Sunday, January 23
As the number of reported Covid cases in Tasmania continues to fall the government is urging people to get their booster while Labor and the teachers’ union express ongoing concerns about the safety of students at school.
The number of cases dropped by 101 to 625 on Sunday but the number of people in hospital rose to 39 with 16 patients being specifically treated for Covid.
Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff said three people were being treated in intensive care with two being ventilated.
He was pleased that a Covid outbreak at the Mersey Community Hospital at Latrobe was now controlled, with no new cases overnight.
“While it is positive to see case numbers continue to decline, we are not through this wave yet,” Mr Rockliff said.
“The evidence remains clear that the most important thing you can do to protect yourself and your loves ones, is to get vaccinated.
“Just over 32 per cent of Tasmanians have now had their booster shot, and it’s vitally important we continue to push this number up as high as possible to ensure people are fully protected from serious illness or death from Covid-19.”
Mr Rockliff said just over 33 per cent of 5-11 year olds had received their first dose.
Labor’s education spokesman Josh Willie said there were still concerns from parents about how contact tracing would be done when schools return on February 9 and the wearing of masks.
“With hundreds of schools and over 90,000 students across Tasmania, will Public Health have the resources to stay on top of contact tracing or will it be left to our already stretched education workforce?”, he said.
“Many families will be very cautious approach and some may choose to remove their kids from their learning environment if they are notified of a case at their child’s school.
“If a student takes off a mask, for example, will they be given another mask?
Premier Peter Gutwein last week said students in schools, early learning centres and child care would not be defined as close contacts unless there were five or more cases in a single classroom within a seven day period.
“If a positive case is detected, schools will notify parents and carers that a case has been detected in the classroom, and to monitor for symptoms,” he said.
“All students should be at school unless they are unwell or have symptoms of Covid, or have medical advice that they shouldn’t attend.”
Mr Rockliff said: “Josh Willie has spent several months trying to scare parents ahead of schools returning, which is disappointing and counterproductive.”
Australian Education Union president David Genford has disputed Education Department figures that there are 1700 teachers who are available to work if teachers get Covid.
“I don’t think that figure is accurate, I spoke to one principal who is still six teachers short and that is not normal,” he said.
“We already had a teacher shortage and Covid has not eased that.
“Many older teachers are apprehensive at returning to school and thinking about early retirement.”
Mr Genford also was worried contact tracing would place an extra burden on already stretched school staff.
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