Changes made to COVID-19 vaccine program

Under the National Immunisation Program, eligibility for funded COVID-19 vaccines changed from 1 October 2026, with free COVID-19 vaccines available only to people at highest risk of severe disease:

• all adults aged 75 years and over (one dose every 6 months)
• adults aged 65 to 74 years (one dose every 12 months)
• Aboriginal people aged 50 to 74 years (one dose every 12 months)
• all adults aged 18 years and over with severe immunocompromise (one dose every 12 months).

People who are not eligible for a funded COVID-19 vaccine may choose to purchase the vaccine privately, based on a benefit-risk discussion with their healthcare provider. For immunisation providers, COVID-19 vaccine ordering, distribution, reporting and program support will move to existing state NIP arrangements, consistent with processes used for other NIP vaccines.

In recent data from WA Health’s Virus Watch, COVID-19 notifications decreased to 143 cases in the week ending 10 September, though viral activity remained at a moderate level. For the same week, hospitalised COVID-19 cases increased to 38 per day, while the seven-day average for cases in ICUs was one.

COVID-19 notifications and test positivity by notification week (WA, 2024 to 2026 YTD)