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Pfizer boosters will be available to people who have been fully vaccinated for at least six months from November 8.Credit:AP

Aged care residents have already started getting boosters in Victoria,and the broader booster program will begin on November 8,Health Minister Greg Hunt said. Aged care residents and people with disabilities would be the priority,he said,but vaccines will be available to everyone as they become eligible,six months after their second jab.

“We have enough vaccines in the country to vaccinate everybody who comes due and as your six months has passed,then you will be able to come forward,” he said.

While one provider has started delivering booster shots to aged care residents,chief executive of Aged and Community Services Australia Paul Sadler said discussions about how boosters will be delivered to the sector more broadly are ongoing.

“The federal government is consulting with us. We are feeling positive that our call for on-site vaccination teams for residents and staff has been heard,” he said.

Opposition health spokesman Mark Butler said the federal government needed to come up with a detailed plan for delivering boosters to those at-risk groups.

“We need an urgent plan for the booster shot rollout,especially to protect frontline healthcare workers as lockdowns are lifted and state borders reopen,” he said,noting many received their second shot more than seven months ago.

“It’s also not clear how Australians will be notified when it is their time to get a booster shot.”

On Wednesday,Mr Hunt said he was in talks with states,territories,GPs and pharmacies about how boosters will be provided. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Dr Karen Price previously said she believes most GPs would notify patients they were eligible through their normal recall systems.

However,funding is a sticking point for GPs and pharmacists. Dr Price said the college fought for increased funding to deliver boosters,but instead will be paid $10 to deliver both second shots and boosters.

“If practices did have access to ‘Level C’ Medicare rebates,which are for consultations lasting at least 20 minutes,for these booster vaccines – that would make a real difference. We advocated for this because patients will come to us with many questions about boosters,” she tweeted.

The Pharmacy Guild of Australia is also in discussion with the federal government about remuneration for delivering boosters,wanting it to be in line with funding for GPs.

The Pfizer vaccine wasapproved for use as a booster by the Therapeutic Goods Administration on Tuesday evening for people aged over 18. TGA boss John Skerritt stressed two doses still provided excellent protection against serious illness,hospitalisation and death,while boosters give additional protection against mild COVID-19.

ATAGI has held back on recommending Pfizer boosters for the broader adult population,promising a review in January.

“ATAGI notes that these groups considered most likely to benefit from booster doses include individuals first eligible during the initial rollout of vaccination in Australia,” the group said in a statement.

The group said it would also make a recommendation on the potential use of Moderna’s vaccine “in due course”. On Wednesday,Mr Hunt said Moderna was yet to apply for its vaccine to be used as a booster.

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