A fourth dose of COVID vaccine should be offered to all Australians over the age of 50 as a way to reduce the risk of increasing virus infections across the country, says an epidemiologist.
As the number of deaths in Australia from the pandemic exceeded 10,000, Professor Robert Booy, a pediatrician for infectious diseases, said the age limit should be considered for a fourth or second dose of vaccine. support.
Currently, a fourth dose is only available for people over the age of 65, people with care for the elderly or disabled, as well as people who are severely immunocompromised.
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“Reaching the lower limit of 65 to 50 is a good idea,” Professor Booy told Sky News on Monday.
“There are a lot of people with chronic medical conditions between the 50s and early 60s, and they will really benefit.”
Professor Booy said about 20% of the eligible population over the age of 65 had not yet received the fourth dose.
“They’re playing roulette … there’s an effective vaccine. If you had three doses, the fourth will drastically increase your protection,” he said.
“Having a booster for the last six months is very protective against hospitalization and death.”
As COVID cases continue to rise in Australia due to the more transmissible strains of the Omicron variant, experts have called for the reintroduction of mask mandates to try to mitigate the spread.
Professor Adrian Esterman said caution was needed as public health restrictions were eased.
“Right now we’re getting variants BA.5 and BA.4 to take over from BA.2,” Professor Esterman told ABC TV on Monday.
“We are seeing that the number of effective reproduction – which tells us how bad or good things are – is more than one in all states and territories.
“And that tells us that the number of cases will increase, hospitalizations will invariably increase … and deaths will also increase.”
However, Deakin University chair of epidemiology Catherine Bennett said that while the use of masks should be increased, mandates were not the way to do it.
“When you have rules, they start to wear down people’s compliance or adherence to those rules and enforcing those rules. We’ve seen that happen,” he told Melbourne 3AW radio station.
“Helping people understand their risks in relation to where they are, I think, can also make a difference.”
Health authorities have urged nearly six million Australians to get vaccine boosters to relieve pressure on hospitals and ensure greater personal protection against the virus.
It occurs when border restrictions applied in response to the virus have to be removed, and arriving passengers are no longer required to declare their vaccination status or obtain a travel exemption.
The changes to the Biosafety Act that went into effect on Wednesday were made after the advice of medical director Paul Kelly that it was no longer necessary for travelers to declare their vaccination status.
The passenger’s digital declaration required people entering Australia to provide their contact details, declare their vaccination status, where they had been for the past 14 days, and agree to follow the quarantine and testing requirements.
LATEST DATA OF COVID-19 THE 24 HOURS:
NSW: 8958 cases, one death, 1725 in hospital, 50 in ICU
Victory: 7317 cases, 24 dead, 513 in hospital, 28 in ICU
Tasmania: 1094 cases, no deaths, 72 in hospital, three in ICU
WA: 4312 cases, no deaths, 226 in hospital, nine in ICU
ACT: 1134 cases, no deaths, 136 in hospital, two in ICU
SA: 2559 cases, one death, 220 in hospital and nine in the ICU
NT: 247 cases, no deaths, 21 in hospital and one in ICU