NSW considers shortening Covid booster shot interval to four months as Omicron spreads

New South Wales health officials are considering breaking with commonwealth advice by shortening the Covid vaccine booster interval to four months, amid concern about spread of the Omicron variant.

Guardian Australia understands that NSW health department officials were meeting with vaccine providers in the state on Friday and canvassing the prospect of how they would cope with an influx of people eager to be vaccinated ahead of schedule.

A source familiar with the vaccine rollout in NSW told Guardian Australia health authorities in the state were concerned about record transmission levels this week as well as a potential waning of protection, given that a large number of people in the state received AstraZeneca.

Guardian Australia contacted NSW Health for comment in relation to the potential four-month interval, and a spokesperson referred the question to the commonwealth government. The Guardian contacted the federal health department for comment.

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (Atagi) on Friday decided to maintain the five month interval for booster shots.

However, Atagi decided to allow flexibility for those who were one or two weeks short of the five-month period but who wanted to get it ahead of clinic closures and travel over Christmas.

Demand for booster shots grew significantly in the days after the commonwealth brought forward the booster interval from six months to five.

Heffernan said there did not appear to be booster supply issues in Australia, but instead raised concern about deployment of the vaccine supplies from the commonwealth and pharmacies opting out of the booster rollout.

There were 2,213 new Covid-19 cases and one death announced in NSW on Friday, its highest ever daily case number of the pandemic. However intensive care presentations remain relatively low, with 24 people currently in ICUs in the state.