Australian health authorities have advised against taking a fifth Covid-19 vaccine, while urging eligible people to take their remaining booster doses, as the country's latest coronavirus wave grows rapidly.
Average daily cases were 47 per cent higher last week than the week before, said Health Minister Mark Butler as he announced new vaccination recommendations. But cases remain 85 per cent below the previous peak, of late July.
Mr Butler said the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisations had recommended against a fifth dose, or third booster, after evidence from Singapore's recent wave showed that severe illness and death were rare among the vaccinated and that a fifth shot had minimal impact on virus transmission.
“ATAGI has considered international evidence as well as the local data around vaccination numbers, as well as case numbers in the pandemic and decided not to recommend a fifth dose,” said Mr Butler.
“They noted that severe disease and death during that wave in Singapore was very rare for people who had had at least two doses of vaccine for Covid.”
New booster recommendations will be made early next year before the Southern Hemisphere winter.
Mr Butler urged those yet to have the recommended number of doses to do so, with 5.5 million Australians, about a fifth of the population, yet to receive a third dose despite being eligible.
He also accepted ATAGI recommendations that Pfizer's Omicron-specific vaccine be approved as a booster dose for adults. About 4.7 million doses will arrive before a campaign due to begin on December 12.
The company's vaccine for children up to the age of 5 will also be approved for use on the severely immunocompromised.
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said the Singaporean experience suggested the current wave would peak soon and that cases would then drop quickly.
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HIJRA
Starring: Lamar Faden, Khairiah Nathmy, Nawaf Al-Dhufairy
Director: Shahad Ameen
Rating: 3/5
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
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6.20pm: West Acre
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
Company%20Profile
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WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
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Barbie
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