{"id":13620,"date":"2021-10-29T01:32:09","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T01:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=13620"},"modified":"2021-10-29T01:32:09","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T01:32:09","slug":"australians-to-receive-covid-19-vaccine-booster-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2021\/10\/29\/australians-to-receive-covid-19-vaccine-booster-shot\/","title":{"rendered":"Australians to receive COVID-19 vaccine booster shot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>To provide even greater protection against COVID-19, Australians aged 18 and over who have received two doses at least six months ago, are now eligible to have a booster shot.<br \/>\nVaccines will be available for eligible people from November 8, following advice from Australia\u2019s vaccine experts; the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) and approval from Australia\u2019s medicines regulator; the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).<br \/>\nAustralia\u2019s COVID-19 vaccination program is now one of the most successful in the world \u2013 with more than 75 per cent of Australians aged 16 and over being fully vaccinated.<br \/>\nThe Government has accepted ATAGI\u2019s advice that the Comirnaty (Pfizer) vaccine is recommended for the booster dose, irrespective of the primary COVID-19 vaccine used.<br \/>\nThe booster shot is not mandatory, however it provides further protection against the worst effects of COVID-19.<br \/>\nThose first eligible for a booster, based on when they completed their two-dose course, will be people in high priority groups who were prioritised early in the roll out of the vaccine program.<br \/>\nThis includes Australians aged 50 and over, residents of aged care and disability facilities, people with underlying medical conditions, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, and people at increased occupational risk of COVID-19.<br \/>\nThe booster program will roll out directly to people living in Residential Aged Care Facilities and people with a disability through an in-reach program.<br \/>\nFrontline workers are strongly encouraged to book in to get a booster dose, if six months has passed since their second dose.<br \/>\nThe Australian Government will consider the possibility of other vaccines being used for booster shots if successful applications are submitted to the TGA, and pending advice from ATAGI.<br \/>\nThe Pfizer COVID-19 booster shots are free and will be available through the primary healthcare network (GPs, community pharmacies, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services, and Commonwealth Vaccination Clinics) and state and territory vaccination hubs.<br \/>\nAustralians will be able to book and receive their booster doses from 8 November 2021.<br \/>\nAlthough vaccines are the best defence against COVID-19, Australians are reminded to continue implementing other safety measures to reduce their risk of contracting the virus. Physical distancing, hand washing, wearing a face mask, and following other public health measures continue to be important for public safety.<br \/>\nFor more details about the Australian Government\u2019s vaccine roll out, visit\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.australia.gov.au\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">aus.gov.au<\/a><br \/>\nThe ATAGI advice is available on the Department of Health website at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.health.gov.au\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">health.gov.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To provide even greater protection against COVID-19, Australians aged 18 and over who have received two doses at least six months ago, are now eligible to have a booster shot. Vaccines will be available for eligible people from November 8, following advice from Australia\u2019s vaccine experts; the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) and &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2021\/10\/29\/australians-to-receive-covid-19-vaccine-booster-shot\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Australians to receive COVID-19 vaccine booster shot&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13620\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}