Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss the national response to the omicron variant as cases rise across the country.
One of the key points of this meeting could be to bring forward the time frame for booster jabs from the recently revised five months down to four months and declare anyone who has had three jabs as ‘fully vaccinated’, up from the current two jabs.
There’s no suggestion yet that the federal government will be bringing in any drastic measures, however, chief health officers from most states and territories have called for tougher action to slow the spread of the virus.
The change in definition over what counts as fully vaccinated is being debated by the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) who are considering updating the requirement to three doses of a vaccine.
Both the NSW and VIC chief health officers have said that they support the re-definition of the term and have written to federal health minister Greg Hunt to urge him to consider this change as well as the sped-up booster dose rollout.
Morrison is expected to discuss the wearing of face masks, working for home requirements, and booster shots during the meeting.
National cabinet was not due to meet again until February 2022, however, Morrison is keen to emphasise the ‘casual’ nature of the meeting so as not to sound any alarm bells.
“The purpose of it was just simply to give everybody an update on the most recent information that we have and to share the information that the states and territories have,” he said.
“We’re looking forward to catching up, it’s not usual we would be meeting more regularly with the Omicron being where it is.”
The brought forward booster jab programme comes as pharmacies and vaccination clinics report running low on vaccine supplies and individuals report long waits for booster doses.
The surge in demand over fears of the omicron variant, the changing of the timeline from six months to five, and supply chain issues have been described as “the perfect bottleneck” for booster jab delays.
If the new rules do come into place, they are likely to be brought in with several months buffer to ensure people can get their required third dose however there will still have to be corrections with vaccine supply chains to ensure that everyone has access.
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