Health And Education
Annual COVID-19 booster shots plan for all
Aaron PatrickSenior correspondent
Sep 11, 2021 – 5.00am
A long-term COVID-19 vaccine booster program for Australia will operate through pharmacies and general practice clinics, and could include young children and infants if medical authorities approve them for adult vaccines.
With two-thirds of Australian adults likely to be vaccinated by Saturday, federal government sources said planning was under way for a combined influenza and COVID-19 vaccine that would be manufactured in Australia and administered on a yearly basis.
A pharmacy delivering COVID-19 vaccines to people in Saint Marys, western Sydney. Dominic Lorrimer
Officials also confirmed the first of 10 million Moderna vaccines will arrive late next week, accelerating the inoculation of adults under 60 and teenagers.
The planning for the vaccination program after most Australians receive their first two shots includes children.
The government is monitoring clinical trials of the vaccination of 12-year-olds and much younger in the US using smaller doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, officials said.
The government's contracts with the two companies include provisions for vaccines for children and infants, if they are cleared by independent medical authorities. Children younger than 12 are currently not allowed to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in Australia.
By using pharmacies to deliver booster shots, as well as doctors, the government hopes to make it easier for people who live in disadvantaged communities to protect themselves against COVID-19 in the future.
Vaccines to be combined
The plan has been helped by the discovery that the four vaccines that will be used to protect Australians against COVID-19 for years to come, Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Novavax, can probably be safely and effectively combined, a government official said.
"The emerging medical evidence is there is likely to be compatibility between different primary vaccines and the boosters we have," the official said.
The ability to combine the booster vaccines with Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna would greatly simplify the organisation of booster vaccinations, and make individuals more likely to get vaccinated after the pandemic subsides, medical experts believe.
The booster program will be based on 60 million Pfizer vaccines scheduled to be delivered next year and 25 million in 2023. Some 15 million Moderna vaccines have also been purchased for next year.
The first batch of 51 million vaccines bought from Novavax is expected to arrive late this year, and they are likely to be used as boosters next year. Like other pharmaceutical manufacturers, Novavax is working on a combined flu-COVID-19 vaccine, which the government expects might be commercially available in 2024 or 2025.
Industry Minister Christian Porter is leading the evaluation of plans to manufacture mRNA vaccines in Australia, which would include a combined flu-COVID-19 vaccine, the government said.
$5m for COVID-19 treatments
The Pfizer and Moderna drugs are mRNA vaccines, which use generic code to stimulate the creation of a protein, which provokes the body's natural immune defences.
"We are seeking the capability for a joint mRNA or other combined flu-and-COVID shot," Health Minister Greg Hunt said. "That would be a very significant capability for Australian health security as well as being a global biotech hub."
Separately, the government said it would give $5 million to Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research to find a new treatment for COVID-19. The research will focus on antibody therapies, which block the entry of viruses into cells and are used to treat several infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases and cancer.
On Friday, the federal Health Department said 66 per cent of adults had been partially vaccinated, and 41 per cent fully vaccinated, which is about 10 percentage points higher than the global average.
On Saturday, two-thirds of Australian adults are likely to have been vaccinated at least once, a step that makes it highly likely the nation will reach 70 per cent fully vaccinated by Christmas.
In NSW, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the state was likely to reach 70 per cent by the middle of October, the trigger she has set for lockdowns to end, but expressed concern about a dip in the past few days in the speed of vaccinations in the state.
Juliette O'Brien, the editor of the covid19data website, said her projection to reach 70 per cent was October 16, which would mean NSW's lockdowns would end on Monday, October 18.
Ms Berejiklian said she would no longer give daily COVID-19 press conferences, after Sunday, as part of her plan for the state to accept that the virus will circulate through the community.
The decision means she will not have to answer as many questions during a period when the government expects infections to increase.
"It is important for us to get the right balance; to lead and govern and do what is required," Ms Berejiklian said. "To expect the leader of the government indefinitely to do this every day means that I am not doing my job properly."
The number of new cases reported in NSW on Friday rose to 1542 from 1407 the day before. In Victoria, they rose to 334 from 325 and to 24 from 15 in the ACT. Nine deaths were reported in NSW and one in Victoria.
In Brisbane, a 13-year-old high school girl tested positive, prompting authorities to temporarily close her school, St Thomas More College.
Aaron Patrick is the senior correspondent. He writes about politics and business from the Sydney newsroom. Email Aaron at apatrick@afr.com
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