03
February
2022
|
10:55
Australia/Melbourne

COVID-19 vaccines – the facts

Summary

Bupa’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Mark Lubliner, talks about why it’s important that everyone – young and old – get vaccinated against COVID-19, including a booster dose if you’re an adult.

“It’s fantastic that so many Australians have been vaccinated”, Dr Mark Lubliner, Bupa’s Chief Medical Officer remarked.

“It helps protect us from severe illness from COVID-19, and such a high vaccination rate can also help to reduce the spread of the virus from person to person.”

But we can’t get complacent – booster doses for adults and vaccinating young children will help protect us from COVID-19.  

“And don’t forget to keep up other COVID-safe habits as well,” he reminds us, “to further boost our defences against COVID-19’’.  This includes washing/sanitising your hands regularly, wearing masks as advised, meeting outdoors where possible and socially distancing. It all counts.

COVID-19 vaccine facts

1.       Getting a booster shot prolongs your immunity against COVID-19 and helps slow its spread 

Vaccines stimulate our immune systems to fight a disease so we don’t get it in the first place, or if we do, can fight it better so we don’t get as ill.

We know this is true from our own Australian experience and from other vaccination programs around the world – vaccination against COVID-19 reduces disease severity, helps keep people out of hospital and saves lives.

And it seems to be holding true for the Omicron variant too, based on the evidence we have so far.

The downside is that our immune response to COVID-19 does seem to decline quite quickly. Also, while the current COVID-19 vaccines were designed to give us some protection against new variants, the response generated in our bodies to new variants isn’t as strong. This means that the virus, particularly the Omicron variant, has been able to spread rapidly through our communities despite our high vaccination rate.

Emerging evidence strongly suggests that ‘topping-up’ your immunity with a booster dose increases your protection against getting a COVID-19 infection and may reduce your chances of spreading it to others. So take one for the community, talk with your GP and get a booster!

You can get a booster as soon as 3 months after your second dose if you’re 16 years or over and the TGA has provisionally approved a booster dose for 16-17-year-olds.  Currently, children and adolescents don’t need a booster dose, as they seem to have a strong response to the initial vaccination course.

And having a booster dose is considered safe – data from the United Kingdom and United States have not shown any new safety concerns following millions of booster doses given at least 3 months after the second dose. There is only limited data on serious side effects such as myocarditis and pericarditis following a booster dose.

2.       You should get your booster dose even if you’ve already had COVID-19

Getting your booster shot is recommended even if you’ve had COVID-19.  Like vaccination, your natural immunity to the virus declines quite quickly after infection.

New strains of COVID-19 also increase your chances of getting re-infected – something we’ve been experiencing with the Omicron variant.  If you are unfortunate enough to get COVID-19 again, being fully vaccinated with a booster dose should still help reduce the severity of the illness. 

If you get COVID-19 and have only had one dose of vaccine, you will still be able to have the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine. You can receive your second dose once you have recovered from the acute illness or you can wait for up to 4 months, as your natural immunity is likely to help protect you. Some people may also develop COVID-19 disease after two doses; if this occurs, you can still receive the booster dose once you have recovered from the acute illness or defer it for another 4 months. Please discuss this with your healthcare professional.

If you’re immunocompromised, have a job that requires you to be vaccinated or puts you at high risk of re-infection, you might want to get vaccinated as soon as you can so please speak with your healthcare professional about the best timing for this.

 

3.       Although COVID-19 is generally milder in young children, it’s still worth getting them vaccinated

With the spread of the Delta and now Omicron variants, more children are getting COVID-19. Children can spread COVID-19 to the adults in their school and family, which can lead to bigger community outbreaks and slow progress in getting the pandemic under control. This can have other knock-on effects, such as when children can get back to school and socialise with their friends and grandparents, and when parents can be relieved of home-schooling duties.

Children with certain medical conditions (e.g. obesity, congenital heart disease, asthma, neurological illness) are more likely to get seriously ill if they get COVID.

So make sure your children are vaccinated against COVID-19. The vaccine for younger children (5 to 11-year-olds) is the same as one that’s used in people 12 and over (Pfizer’s Comirnaty) – but it's a third of the dose. Children will need to have two doses, given 8 weeks apart, to get the best protection. Even at this lower dose, children experience an immune response to COVID-19 that’s seen in people aged 16–25.

And there’s more good news. The most common side-effects of the vaccine, like a sore arm, headache or fatigue, seem to occur less often in children of this age than in teenagers and adults.

Whilst the clinical trial in children aged 5 to 11 years did not have enough participants to assess rates of myocarditis or pericarditis following vaccination with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, no specific safety concerns have been identified so far from millions of doses of this vaccine administered overseas to children aged 5 to 11 years. The benefits of vaccination outweigh this risk, and vaccination is still recommended for all eligible age groups. The safety of COVID-19 vaccines has been, and will continue to be, monitored throughout the COVID-19 vaccination program, including for children.

Even if your child has had COVID-19, still get them vaccinated – have a chat with your healthcare professional about the best timing for this.

4. It’s important to get your annual flu vaccination for protection against circulating strains of influenza virus

With all the focus on getting vaccinated for COVID-19, it’s easy to forget about getting your annual flu jab. Like COVID-19, flu can be a serious disease, causing complications such as pneumonia or even death so make sure you’re vaccinated against both.

It’s recommended that everyone aged 6 months and above has a flu shot each year, preferably before the flu season begins, which is usually around April.

MORE INFORMATION

For further helpful and up-to-date information regarding the COVID-19 vaccination and booster go to: https://www.australia.gov.au/covid19vaccines#

BASED ON INFORMATION CURRENT AS OF 28 JANUARY 2022, AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE IN ACCORDANCE WITH ANY UPDATED GOVERNMENT ADVICE OR INFORMATION THAT BECOMES AVAILABLE.

References

Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI). Clinical guidance on use of COVID-19 vaccine in Australia in 2021, v7.4, 29 October 2021

National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance. COVID-19 Vaccines Frequently Asked Questions: https://www.ncirs.org.au/covid-19/covid-19-vaccines-frequently-asked-questions

COVID-19 booster vaccine advice | Australian Government Department of Health

Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI). ATAGI Statement on the Omicron variant and the timing of COVID-19 booster vaccination [Online; last updated 24 Dec 2021; accessed 24 Jan 2022] Available from: https://www.health.gov.au/committees-and-groups/australian-technical-advisory-group-on-immunisation-atagi

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Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI). ATAGI recommendations on Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine use in children aged 5-11-year-olds [Online; last updated 10 Dec 2021; accessed 24 Jan 2022] Available from: https://www.health.gov.au/committees-and-groups/australian-technical-advisory-group-on-immunisation-atagi

Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI). ATAGI advice on the administration of seasonal influenza vaccines in 2021. [Online; last updated 7 Dec 2021; accessed 24 Jan 2022] Available from: https://www.health.gov.au/committees-and-groups/australian-technical-advisory-group-on-immunisation-atagi

Australian Government. Department of Health. Australian Immunisation Handbook. Influenza (flu). [Online; last updated 30 Nov 2021; accessed 24 Jan 2022] Available from: https://immunisationhandbook.health.gov.au/

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Australian Government. Department of Health. Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11: information for parents and guardians [Online; last updated 20 Dec 2021; accessed 24 Jan 2022] www.health.gov.au/

Australian Government. Department of Health. Guidance on myocarditis and pericarditis after mRNA COVID-19 vaccines [Online; last updated 15 Sept 2021; accessed 24 Jan 2022] www.health.gov.au/

European Medicines Agency. Preliminary data indicate COVID-19 vaccines remain effective against severe disease and hospitalisation caused by the Omicron variant [Online; last updated 11 Jan 2022; accessed 24 Jan 2022] Available from: www.ema.europa.eu/

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Weekly epidemiological update: Omicron variant of concern (VOC) [Online; last updated 21 Jan 2022; accessed 24 Jan 2022] Available from: www.ecdc.europa.eu/

National Centre of Immunisation Research and Surveillance. COVID-19: frequently asked questions: Will the covid-19 vaccines be effective on new variants of the virus? [Online; last updated 25 Jan 2022; accessed 25 Jan 2022] Available from: www.ncirs.org.au

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP). How long should patients wait for a booster after COVID infection? [Online; last updated 19 Jan 2022; accessed 24 Jan 2022] Available from: www1.racgp.org.au/

Report 49 - Growth, population distribution and immune escape of Omicron in England [Online; last updated 16 Dec 2021; accessed 24 Jan 2022] Available from:

www.imperial.ac.uk/mrc-global-infectious-disease-analysis/covid-19/report-49-Omicron/

Therapeutic Good Administration. Media release: Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty) provisionally approved for use as a booster in individuals aged 16–17 years old. [Online; last updated 28 Jan 2022; accessed 28 Jan 2022] Available from: www.tga.gov.au/news-room