COVID booster future

Australia’s COVID vaccination program could benefit from greater clarity thanks to new research by the Telethon Kids Institute investigating the most effective, long‐term strategies for delivering booster vaccinations.


The Platform Trial in COVID Vaccine Boosting (PICOBOO) will examine whether immunity can be maximised by “mixing” vaccine booster types, how long this protection lasts, as well as evaluating how strategies may need to differ depending on a person’s age and vaccine history.

Led by Professor Peter Richmond, Head of the Vaccines Trials Group at the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases at Telethon Kids Institute and Head of Paediatrics at UWA Medical School, the three-year study is supported by a $4.1 million grant from the Federal Government’s Medical Research Future Fund.

“At this point it is unclear whether periodic COVID-19 booster vaccination will be necessary in the future, and if so, whether this will be needed for all Australians or select vulnerable populations such as the elderly, pregnant women and those with other medical conditions,” Prof Richmond said.

“The information gained from the PICOBOO Study will help us answer these questions and allow us to tailor our vaccine program according to new strains that may arrive and their severity.

“It is likely that we will need to have improvements in the current vaccines to provide year-long protection against infection, potentially combining different strains in the same vaccine similar to influenza vaccines or mixing and matching vaccine schedules.”

As Australians have access to both Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines, the AstraZeneca viral vector vaccine and now Novavax, the research will provide high‐quality data to determine which vaccine combinations work best in providing long‐term protection.

“We will evaluate the durability of protection offered by three COVID-19 vaccines, Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax, and undertake a detailed analysis of the different sorts of antibodies made and how well they neutralise the different variants – this will help us understand if the technology behind the vaccine plays a major role in efficacy,” Prof Richmond explained.

“The data from the UK suggests that booster doses of Pfizer and Moderna seem to provide similar protection against Delta and Omicron infection and hospitalisation although waning is much faster for Omicron, but we do not know whether there is any difference in the duration of immunity after Novavax.

“Having an adaptive platform trial design should allow us to answer these questions for years to come.”

Recruitment is now underway in Perth, with study sites in Adelaide and Launceston soon to follow, and researchers are looking for 800 healthy participants who have received their first two Covid‐19 vaccinations but have not yet had their booster dose.

“We are reaching out to the final cohort of Australian who are yet to receive their booster and encouraging them to play a role in shaping our nation’s COVID-19 vaccine program,” Prof Richmond said.

“It will be pretty special to look back and know you played a vital part in paving our way out of this pandemic.

“This study is the first of its kind in Australia, and we would encourage as many people as possible to get involved by emailing Vax4COVID@telethonkids.org.au or contacting the Telethon Kids Institute.”