Aged care COVID-19 additional dose

Aged care COVID-19 additional dose

Published on 06 December 2023

It is important to ensure the safety of our community, especially our older members. Older age continues to be the biggest risk factor for severe COVID-19.

Vaccination is the best way to protect yourself from severe illness or death from COVID-19.

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has updated advice for the COVID-19 vaccine.

If it has been six months since receiving a COVID-19 vaccine or a confimed COVID-19 infection, an additional dose:

is recommended for people aged 75 or older should be considered for people aged 65 to 74 and people aged 18 to 64 years with severe immunocompromise, following discussion with their health care provider.

People aged 65 years and older who have not had a COVID-19 booster this year, are recommended to get a dose.

All COVID-19 vaccines are anticipated to provide benefit to eligible people. However, the monovalent Omicron XBB.1.5 vaccines are preferred over other vaccines for eligible people.

If you know an older member of our community who may benefit from this information, please share it with them.

Book a vaccination

Let’s ensure that everyone has access to the latest updates on COVID-19 vaccinations.

For more information, visit the Department of Health and Aged Care website: health.gov.au/covid-19-vaccines.

To find a COVID-19 vaccine clinic near you:

Call the Healthdirect helpline on 1800 022 222 if you need COVID-19 advice.

Oral antiviral treatments

Oral antivirals treatments are safe and effective in reducing the severity of COVID-19 and are available to people at high risk of severe illness from COVID-19 including people 70 years and older.

Be prepared, if you are aged 70 years or older, or have one of the risk factors, we encourage you to have an early discussion with your GP or nurse practitioner about:

whether an oral antiviral suits your health needs developing a COVID-19 plan if you test positive to COVID-19 including how to access antivirals quickly if you need them.

You must start the treatment as soon as possible or within five days of COVID-19 symptoms beginning. Oral antiviral treatments may help stop COVID-19 infection from becoming severe.