Pressure is mounting on the federal government to expand access to a fifth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, with a growing number of vulnerable Australians facing waning immunity at a time when case numbers across the country are rising.
Raymond Island couple Andrew and Terry MacGregor, 77 and 78, had all their shots as soon as they were eligible.
But their fourth dose was administered back in April, and they worry they are now vulnerable to the virus again.
A history of cardiac issues adds to their concern.
"We're very nervous about COVID, we keep to ourselves and we've lost contact with a lot of old friends," Mr MacGregor said.
"We basically stay at home, we go shopping once a week, and we go shopping with N95 masks on."
In Australia, only adults with a severely compromised immune system are eligible for a fifth dose.
With Moderna's new bivalent vaccine — which targets both the original variant and an Omicron subvariant — now available in Australia, there are calls for it to be made available to everyone who wants a fifth dose.
Virologist Tony Cunningham said newer COVID-19 variants appeared to be more likely to evade vaccines, and that bivalent vaccines might offer higher protection.
"I expect they will be pretty good because the Omicron-family [vaccines] should have better effects against the new variants, than the original vaccines," he said.
Some countries have already made the fifth dose an option for all, including the United States, which is recommending that all people who have had a booster more than three months ago get a bivalent vaccine.
Singapore is also opening up access to the bivalent vaccine for all people over 18.
Mr MacGregor said it's time Australia caught up.
"[ATAGI] really should really get on with it — this is serious."
Cases on the rise
With experts warning a new wave of COVID-19 might be hitting Australia, the narrow eligibility for fifth doses could change soon.
Epidemiologist Nancy Baxter said the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) was likely to be reviewing the criteria.
"I am sure they are looking at what the numbers are looking like, what hospitalisations are looking like," she said.
In the week to November 1, just over 37,000 COVID-19 cases were reported across Australia — a 17.3 per cent jump from the week before, according to federal government data.
Professor Cunningham, the executive director of the Westmead Institute for Medical Research, said the real number was likely to be higher.
"There's a slight increase in cases around Australia, remembering this is difficult to count because not everyone is reporting their RAT test positivity, and we know that hospitalisations go up later than cases," he said.
This week, students attending a high school in Sydney's north-west were forced to return home, after one-third of the school's teaching staff tested positive for COVID-19.
Professor Cunningham said while a fifth dose would be good for some people, many people were still not up to date with their current boosters.
Seventy-two per cent of eligible Australians have had their third dose and only 42 per cent have had their fourth.
"I think if we are facing a new wave that is really concerning, and I think it is important to urge the remainder of those vulnerable people to be immunised," he said.
"Sixty per cent of Australians have been infected, mostly by the Omicron family, and this combines with vaccines to create a good level of immunity in the community.
"Nevertheless there are still gaps and we need to fill those gaps."
