Australia to offer fifth COVID shot to all adults later this month
Dzmitry Dzemidovich

All Australian adults will be able to receive a fifth COVID-19 vaccine dose later this month, the countryâs health minister, Mark Butler, announced Wednesday.
âFrom February 20, all adults who have not had a COVID-19 booster or a confirmed case in the past six months can now get another booster to give them additional protection against severe illness from COVID,â he said.
Previously, only severely immunocompromised adults could receive a fifth COVID shot in Australia three months after their fourth dose. 
The announcement follows a recommendation from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (Atagi).
Atagi particularly endorsed the 2023 booster dose for those over 65 and younger adults with medical comorbidities, disability, or complex health needs, the minister said.
While all COVID shots are expected to provide benefits as a fifth dose, Omicron-adjusted messenger RNA shots are preferred for this purpose, the minister added.
Australia has so far authorized COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)/ BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX), Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA), Novavax (NVAX), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), and AstraZeneca (AZN).
Read: Seeking Alpha contributor Juxtaposed Ideas recently upgraded Pfizer (PFE) to Buy from Hold despite the waning demand for its jointly-developed COVID shot.