The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has approved a fourth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine for people with weakened immune systems.
People aged 18 years or older with weakened immune system who received a 3-dose primary course of the COVID-19 vaccine are now recommended to receive the fourth dose ≥ 3 months after their third dose.
This is expected to improve protection against symptomatic infection, serious illness, or death from COVID-19 infection.
Many immunocompromising conditions are associated with a higher risk of severe illness and complications from COVID-19. These include solid organ transplantation, blood and solid organ cancers, or their treatments including immune therapy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, blood/marrow stem cell transplant and CAR-T cell therapy
Protection from COVID-19 infection with or without a booster dose in severely immunocompromised individuals may still be lower than the general population. Risk mitigation strategies such as mask-wearing and social distancing should continue to be used even after receipt of a 3rd dose or 4th dose.
Antibody testing is not recommended to assess for immunity to SARS-CoV-2 following COVID-19 vaccination as no serological assays provide a definitive correlate of immunity to the COVID-19 virus.
Article by Dr Swe Htet
