Australians need COVID-19 booster after six months or considered 'overdue' by ATAGI

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said under the new advice from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI), Australians would be considered "up-to-date" after receiving all the recommended vaccine doses for their age group.

Under ATAGI recommendations, everyone aged 16 or over should get boosted three months after their primary course of shots.

The new advice goes a step further, stripping people of their "up-to-date" vaccination status and classifying them as "overdue" six months after their second shot.

It appears the "up-to-date" classification will co-exist with the currently used "fully vaccinated" label.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said international arrivals would continue to be defined as "fully vaccinated" after two doses of a recognised jab.

"People entering Australia will not be required to have had a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine," he said.

Mr Morrison said ATAGI had recommended the changes be in place by the end of March.

Premiers and the Federal Government had been at odds over whether any changes to booster requirements would also apply to international arrivals.

According to the Prime Minister, 93.9 per cent of over-16s have received two doses and 46.3 per cent of Australians have been boosted.

Greg Hunt said boosters were "readily available" for everyone aged 16 and over from three months after their second dose.

"The Government places safety above all else, as it has done throughout the pandemic, and will continue to follow the medical advice in protecting Australians," he said.

"People under 16 years of age will continue to be considered 'up-to-date' after completing their primary course of vaccination, while severely immuno-compromised people aged five years and older require a third primary dose to remain up to date."

But Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews indicated he might seek to impose restrictions on visitors who had not had a booster shot, which is currently available only in a minority of countries.

It has also been reported that Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk could join him, despite having previously called for more support for the state's struggling tourism industry.

Cairns boat trip operator Perry Jones said the reports had left him "nearly in tears".

He told Today he supported booster shots but that making them mandatory would mean "death" for tourism.

"We've got to start living with it. Let's be adults now, understand that we've got to live with this like we live in the flu and live with the cold and stuff like," he said.

But the head of the Queensland AMA has issued a cautious backing to the idea of only letting in triple-vaccinated tourists. 

Dr Chris Perry said while such a move seemed "unnecessary" at this point, it could be "a smart move into the future". 

"We are probably going to see other variants come," he said. 

"And if we have bad ones coming in the future, we will need the vaccines to be updated." 

Meanwhile, New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet was tight-lipped on whether he would join his Victorian counterpart in demanding a three-dose vaccine mandate for tourists.

Mr Perrottet told Today he would await advice from ATAGI and would advocate for "national consistency".

"There's been a lot of discussion around it and, if that is the advice from ATAGI, then obviously from a NSW perspective, we'll be applying that here in our state," Mr Perrottet said.

"My understanding is from what the Prime Minister said yesterday is that the requirements in relation to overseas travellers coming into Australia, that it would be the two-dose vaccination that would be required."

Mr Perrottet also pointed out the advice National Cabinet was anticipating from ATAGI would relate to the definition of "fully vaccinated" in Australia — not to visitors.

"That is a different situation for those people coming from overseas in circumstances where they have different procedures and rules in place for their country," he said.

At a later press conference this morning, he gave a stronger indication that NSW might still allow double-vaccinated travellers in regardless of the ATAGI advice for Australians.

He said Australia had to rejoin the world "in a sensible, measured way".

"We cannot live here in a hermit kingdom on the other side of the world," he said.