The interval between each COVID-19 booster shot will be reduced to four months from January 4, the government says, as part of a raft of new measures to address surging COVID-19 case numbers.
Greg Hunt, Australia's health minister told reporters at a press conference on Friday morning that the amount of time people are required to wait between the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and a booster shot will be reduced to four months.
This interval will then be reduced to three months on January 31, based on advice from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI).
The updated rules around booster shots comes as cases of the more transmissible Omicron variant continue to climb, with NSW recording 5,612 new cases and Victoria following with 2,095 cases.
Hunt said 192,000 doses of vaccine were delivered yesterday, with the two million booster mark to be reached on Friday.
The health ministers said the approval of a shorter booster vaccine interval time would ensure more Australians were eligible for the shot in coming weeks.
Hunt said the changes meant the number of people eligible for a booster would increase from 3.2 million at the moment, to 7.5 million at the beginning of January to 16 million at the end of January.
"On the edge of Christmas, Australians have been coming forward and I really want to thank them for that," Hunt said.
"This morning we will pass the two million booster mark. That's half a million ahead of schedule at this point in time so Australians have been really fantastic in coming forward. I want to thank them for that in particular," he said.
Hunt said the country was now sitting at 94.1% first and 91% second doses that have been administered across the country.
The country has "really seen very high rates of vaccination," he said, "In fact, we're now at 42 million doses."
In response to rapidly climbing case numbers of the highly transmissible Omicron variant ATAGI on Tuesday indicated it was considering moving the acceptable time frame between a second and third shot.
It had previously reduced the interval from six months to five last week.
Sharon Lewin, director of the Doherty Institute told ABC News Breakfast on Tuesday that ATAGI would be analysing overseas data to help it decide if COVID-19 booster doses should be brought forward.
"To make that decision, the authorities, or the advisory group, ATAGI are weighing up a number of factors," Lewin said, including "how quickly your antibodies drop . how much safety data we have at giving the booster earlier and ability to deliver it. We're weighing all of these things up."
The decision would be made based on the additional protection against Omicron a booster shot may provide, she said.
Lewin said the update in the agency's advice would come within the next few days.
ATAGI also said Australians may soon be required to have three vaccine shots to be considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
According to reports, the advisory agency is also contemplating whether a three-dose course better meets the requirements to fight COVID-19 variants.
Australia would join the US, Singapore and Israel if it moved toward this definition.
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