The roll-out for the Moderna Spikevax bivalent vaccine includes the UFS COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic in Dana Street and the 24-hour UFS superpharmacy on Sturt Street and, according to the national COVID-19 vaccine finder, should be available at limited community and franchise pharmacies in Wendouree, Alfredton and Delacombe.

A UFS spokesperson made clear this was not an extra dose but an alternative option for people who were due for a booster jab.

Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation has not made any changes to third and fourth dose recommendations, only that this new vaccine can be an alternate booster for people aged 18-plus and would gradually replace Moderna as existing stocks were exhausted.

Bivalent means this vaccine will target two COVID-19 strains: the original 2020 virus and Omicron BA.1.

ATAGI found "modestly high level" protection in the combination jab, compared to the original Moderna booster, in targeting Omicron sub-variants.

The new vaccine has not been approved for anyone aged under-18, nor is it available as a primary dose (first two jabs or, one of three for immunocompromised persons).

Adults aged 30-49 were added to eligibility for a fourth "winter" booster in early July. Those aged 50-plus are recommended to have had a fourth booster but a fifth jab for the average person 50-plus is not yet on the cards. The intervals between boosters or a COVID-19 infection is three months.

More than 80 per cent of eligible Ballarat residents, aged 16-plus, had received a third COVID-19 jab by the end of September, national vaccine data shows. This is clearly higher than the national third-dose rate of 71.8 per cent.

Fourth jab rates for Ballarat are not available but nationally, 40.9 per cent of eligible Australians had received the extra booster.

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ATAGI continues to urge anyone who is due for a COVID-19 dose book an appointment, using whichever vaccine is available.

AstraZeneca is not recommended as a booster for people who had this as their primary jab course but this may be considered for people with serious medical issues with mRNA (Pfizer and Moderna) vaccines.

Novavax is available in Ballarat for anyone aged 18-plus and only if no other vaccine is considered suitable.

Pfizer and Novavax are understood to be working on developing vaccines that would also target newer and multiple COVID-19 strains.

People are urged to speak to their general practitioner or pharmacist if they have any concerns.

There were 187 reported new active COVID-19 cases in Ballarat last week, Victoria's health department data shows.

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