Australians over the age of 18 will be eligible for a COVID booster from February 20 if they gained a vaccine dose or infection in the past six months.
This means that other people ages 18 to 29 and older who have won all eligible doses will get their fourth dose and those over 30 will get their fifth dose. Children ages 5 to 17 will be eligible for a booster if they have an underlying physical condition, but boosters will not be implemented for other youth at this time.
In Australia, 72. 4% of the population over 16 years of age is fully vaccinated, they have gained at least 3 doses of the original vaccine. But a recent survey found that fewer people were willing to get a booster dose.
So why take a booster? COVID continues to circulate on the network. Over the past week, 18,590 COVID cases were reported in Australia, an average of 2656 cases per day. However, everyone is testing for COVID or reporting positive results, so the actual number of cases is very likely to be much higher.
The number of COVID hospitalizations and ICU instances decreased from last week, to 1838 and instances respectively. In elder care, there are about 198 instances this week.
In an observational study conducted in the United States, vaccine efficacy against hospitalization within five months of receiving the COVID mRNA booster dose was 79% BA. 1/BA. 2 and 60% BA. 4/BA. 5. The percentage dropped to 41% and 29% five months after vaccination.
It’s still imaginable to get and spread COVID after a booster dose, but the infectious breakthroughs are occasionally less severe.
I’ve had COVID before, so why give me a booster?Most Australians have had COVID at least once. By the end of August 2022, two-thirds of adults had already been infected.
New studies show that “hybrid” immunity, resulting from vaccination and COVID infection, can provide partial coverage against reinfection for up to 8 months.
Hybrid immunity provides 97. 4% coverage against severe illness or hospitalization six to 12 months after infection and vaccination.
However, immunity acquired only with booster vaccination seems to fade more quickly.
Does the vaccine you get matter? Currently, there are some vaccines available in Australia. These include: Pfizer, Moderna, Novavax and AstraZeneca.
Both Pfizer and Moderna have bivalent vaccines against the original strain and BA. 1. These will have to be used as a booster, with 4 million doses available lately and another ten million arriving this month.
Pfizer and Moderna have obtained provisional approval for their BA. 4/BA. 5 edition, however, they are not yet available in Australia.
All available vaccines deserve to be offering some benefits. However, Omicron-specific mRNA booster vaccines are preferred, as they appear to offer greater coverage against serious disease than boosters using the original formulation.
Regardless of which vaccine you receive, a booster will help you with severe symptoms of the disease, hospitalizations, and lessen your threat of prolonged COVID. It will also help others, especially if they are older, immunocompromised, or from a vulnerable population.
When do I receive it? The date of your last COVID vaccine can be found out on your virtual COVID certificate available through Medicare or My Health Record.
If you want to get a booster, immunity takes about 14 days to kick in. Antibody levels begin to decline after 3 months, before falling more sharply after 4 to 6 months.
While COVID is different from seasonal flu, COVID rates have already increased over the winter. There have even been reports of double infection, “flurona”.
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (ATAGI) recommends that, faced with the threat of severe COVID illness, other people over the age of 65, or young adults who have underlying medical conditions, disability or complex physical needs, get a booster dose in 2023.
How will I do it afterwards? Side effects of the vaccine are common, such as pain and swelling at the injection site, fatigue, headache, joint or muscle pain, and fever or chills. These disappear in a day or two.
Some rare side effects have been reported, including thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (blood clotting disorder), myocarditis (inflammation of the central muscle), anaphylaxis (allergic reaction), Guillain-Barré syndrome (immune formula attacks nerves) and immune thrombocytopenia. (weak bleeding disorder).
Although those are rare events, it is to know them.
(This story was not edited by the Devdiscourse team and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed. )