Key Points
- Australian scientists progress to the next stage of developing a variant-proof COVID-19 vaccine
- COVID-19 continues to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern or pandemic: WHO
- XBB.1.5 has higher immune escape over other Omicron variants in people vaccinated with three doses
Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has granted provisional approval to Pfizer's bivalent COVID-19 vaccine targeting BA.4 and BA.5 variants for use as a booster dose in individuals aged 12 and over.
Pfizer BA.1 Omicron/original bivalent vaccine was provisionally approved on 27 October 2022.
The number of new weekly cases continues to decline across states and territories.
On Friday, New South Wales reported 7,653 new weekly COVID cases compared to 9,062 cases the week before. Similarly, Victoria reported 3,446 cases compared to 4,912 the previous week.
Scientists at the UNSW RNA Institute, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and the Kirby Institute have now progressed to the next stage of developing a variant-proof COVID-19 vaccine.
They are expected to start a clinical trial by the end of the year.
The requirement of updating booster doses will end once this variant-proof vaccine is developed and approved for use.
The US is already working on a once-a-year jab.
The Victoria government reminded that all state residents can collect two free RATs packets for themselves and two for each household from their local councils.
People with a disability or their carers can collect up to four packets.
WHO is currently tracking four Omicron descendent lineages closely. These variants are BF.7, BQ.1, BA.2.75 and XBB (including XBB.1.5).
WHO said XBB.1.5 has a growth advantage and higher immune escape over other Omicron variants in individuals vaccinated with three doses of mRNA vaccine.
However, there are no early signs of increased disease severity from this variant.
More than 50 countries have reported the variant, with the US (75 per cent), the UK (9.9 per cent) and Canada (3 per cent) reporting the highest cases.
WHO's Emergency Committee on Thursday ruled that COVID-19 continues to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern or pandemic.
The committee declared COVID-19 a pandemic in its meeting on 30 January 2020.
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