People aged 30 and older will be eligible to receive a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose from 11 July 2022 after the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) updated its recommendations. 

ATAGI has specifically recommended that people aged 50 to 64 years should have their fourth dose, while people aged 30 to 49 years may choose to have a fourth shot. People who are already eligible for the fourth dose, including those aged 65 years and over, remain at higher risk of severe disease and death from COVID-19. 

The fourth dose isn’t available to people under the age of 30 years, who are not already eligible, as ATAGI considers it is not clear whether the benefits outweigh the risks for this population group. 

ATAGI has expressed concern that the take-up of the first booster dose, and the fourth dose among those who had already been eligible, has not been high enough and emphasises the importance of vaccination in preventing severe disease and death during this time, particularly in older adults and people aged 16 years and older with a medical condition or disability. 

Read ATAGI’s 7 July 2022 statement. 

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