IMAGE: Victorians will soon need to have received a third dose of the vaccine to be considered up-to-date with their immunisations.(ABC News: Darryl Torpy)
Source: ABCnews
Victoria has recorded another 13 COVID-19 deaths and hospitalisations have risen slightly across the state.
The number of people in hospital after contracting the virus now sits at 553, up from the 543 reported on Thursday.
Of those patients, 82 are in intensive care units, with 23 people on ventilators.
The state reported 8,521 new infections — 3,162 from PCR results and 5,359 from rapid antigen tests.
It takes the number of officially reported active infections to 55,617, down from 55,946 yesterday.
About 49 per cent of the state’s adult population has now had a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
It follows news that Australians will now need to have received a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to be considered ‘up to date’ with their vaccinations, based on new advice from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI).
Those not eligible for a booster will be considered ‘up to date’ after their primary vaccine course.
ATAGI’s new advice was endorsed by the national cabinet at a meeting on Thursday, but will not apply to international travellers arriving in Australia.
Under the new rules, if it has been longer than six months since someone’s last vaccine dose and they are eligible for a booster they will now be considered “overdue”.
It was announced yesterday the deadline for key healthcare workers in Victoria to have a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine was extended by a month, pushing the new deadline to March 12.
