The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has approved a winter booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine to increase vaccine protection before winter for people at greatest risk of severe illness from COVID-19. This is an additional booster dose to your first booster dose.
People can receive an additional booster dose for winter if they have had their primary vaccinations and a booster dose, in addition to meeting one of the following criteria:
- people aged 65 years and older
- residents of aged care or disability care facilities
- people aged 16 years and older who are severely immunocompromised (as defined in the ATAGI statement on the use of a 3rd primary dose of COVID-19 vaccine in individuals who are severely immunocompromised)
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 50 years and older.
Those eligible can receive the additional booster dose 4 months after receiving their first booster or from 4 months after a confirmed COVID-19 infection, if infection occurred since the person’s third dose.
Pfizer and Moderna are the preferred vaccines for the winter dose.
Additional booster doses for those eligible are available at state vaccination clinics from Monday, 28 March 2022.
Walk-in vaccinations are available at Monash Health’s Sandown, Cranbourne and Dandenong vaccination clinics. You can also book your vaccine online.