THE IMPORTANCE OF GOVERNMENTS’ COMMUNICATION AROUND COVID-19 VACCINE COVERAGE

Catholic Health Australia has been campaigning to push the Federal Government for greater clarity around what constitutes ‘fully vaccinated’ in light of the overwhelming evidence that a booster dose is necessary for adequate protection against the Omicron variant.
CHA has written to both Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt and NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard urging them to update the definition of fully vaccinated.
Led by Victoria and New South Wales, Australian governments are beginning to consider the critical issue of what constitutes an appropriate level of vaccine protection against COVID-19. The critical issue is whether two doses of COVID-19 vaccination leave an individual ‘fully vaccinated’
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) recommends that individuals who have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccinations receive a booster dose three months after their second dose.
CHA believes that at a time when Australians are being asked to exercise personal responsibility for their safety, it is imperative that governments are upfront about the level of vaccine-derived protection in the community.
This means that in their daily releases of statistics the Federal Government should no longer include individuals who have yet to receive their booster as ‘fully vaccinated’.
Governments have shown reluctance to shift towards accurate language around vaccination status, apparently out of publicity concerns relating to the resulting drop in the fully vaccinated statistic.
While most states and territories are now reporting the rate of boosters in their jurisdiction, they are less forthcoming about the proportion of eligible people who have received a booster. This figure would be more meaningful, and would be accommodated in an updated definition of fully vaccinated – one that simply considered fully vaccinated to mean protected according to the current advice of ATAGI.