Australians increasingly hesitant about COVID-19 boosters: survey

Australians are increasingly hesitant about receiving coronavirus booster vaccines, a study has found.

According to a survey of 3,400 people published by Australian National University (ANU) researchers on Friday, fewer Australians said they would "definitely" get a booster shot than in October.

Young people, those with a low level of education, people from disadvantaged areas and Indigenous Australians were the least likely groups to have already received boosters.

Nicholas Biddle, a co-author of the study from ANU's Center for Social Research, attributed the results to a lack of information about boosters rather than resistance to vaccines.

"In January 2022, a very high proportion of people, 65.4 percent, said they would definitely have the booster," he said in a media release.

"This is a little lower than when the same people were asked in October 2021, when 71.9 percent of people said they'd get a booster," he said.

"The findings suggest that booster uptake is not due to active resistance to government policy or recommendations, but rather because people either do not have that much information about the need for a third dose or because they have made a judgement that it is not necessary for them," he added.

Under vaccine rollout changes agreed to federal, state and territory governments earlier in February, only eligible people who have had boosters will be considered "up to date."

Anyone who has not received a booster within six months of their second dose will officially be deemed "overdue."

Australia on Friday reported more than 20,000 new coronavirus infections and 28 deaths -- 11 in Victoria, seven in Queensland, six in New South Wales, two in South Australia and one each in Tasmania and the Northern Territory. ■