COVID-19: Australia to offer fourth shot amid new Omicron variants threat
Australia on Thursday (July 7) announced that starting this week it would increase the roll out of the fourth Covid vaccine as it fights a persistent rise in hospital admissions fuelled by the highly contagious new Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5. These new subvariants have now taken over as the predominant Covid strains in a number of countries, and pandemic experts have warned that because they spread more swiftly than any other variants, they may have hospitalisations and fatalities. According to officials, there are more than 4,000 Covid patients in hospitals in the country, the highest number since early February, with the Omicron outbreak, reported by Reuters.
Health Minister Mark Butler at a media briefing said, “The pandemic is not over, we are entering a third wave that is placing enormous pressure on our health and hospital system.”
More than 7 million people will be eligible for their second booster, as per the announcements. Until now, the immunisation was only available to people over the age of 65 or those suffering from serious illness.
The most populous state, New South Wales, recently issued a warning about the recent outbreak of infections brought on by the two variants. However, on the other hand, Victoria claimed that these strains have taken over as the state’s main ones.
Australia, it is amongst the most vaccinated nations against Covid, has 95 per cent of adults administered to two doses for people above the age of 16. According to official records, more than 70 per cent have been given a third chance.
Australia has been coping with the virus since last year following staggered relaxing of barriers after vaccination rates, after mainly controlling the infection through severe border control and sudden lockdowns early in the pandemic.
