COVID-19 vaccination and health outcomes
Background
The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine was launched on 22 February 2021 with a phased approach initially targeting people at highest risk of severe illness and death and highest risk of exposure to the virus (ANAO 2022, Jayasinghe et al. 2023). This included prioritising aged care and disability care residents and workers, frontline healthcare workers and quarantine and border workers (Department of Health and Aged Care 2021).
By November 2021, 80% of people over the age of 16 in Australia had received 2 doses of the vaccine, at which point there was a staged reopening of international borders and ending of targeted lockdowns (ANAO 2022). The rollout of booster doses began on 8 November 2021 initially targeted to people most at risk of severe illness and death with expanded groups included during 2022 (ANAO 2022, Department of Health and Aged Care 2025).
Studies have shown that COVID-19 vaccination is highly effective at reducing the risk of hospitalisation and mortality from COVID-19 (Albreiki et al. 2023, Katz et al. 2024, Liu et al. 2023, Smoll et al. 2023).
This report uses the COVID-19 Register to explore the following among people diagnosed with COVID-19:
- COVID-19 vaccination status by population groups
- COVID-19 related hospitalisations (from 15 December 2021 to 1 July 2022) by vaccination status
- COVID-19 deaths (from 15 December 2021 to 31 December 2022) by vaccination status.
However, it is important to note that simple descriptive analyses of COVID-19 vaccination in people with COVID-19 conducted in this report cannot be used to infer effectiveness of vaccination for a range of reasons.
COVID-19 vaccination to 31 December 2022
More than 70% of people aged 60 or above had received at least 3 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine by 31 December 2022 (Figure 6). Among adults (aged 18 and over) diagnosed with COVID-19 in this analysis:
- 6.1% had not received a COVID-19 vaccination, 40% had received 2 doses and 53% had received at least 3 doses (at the most recent date of diagnosis)
- 59% of people with COVID-19 during the pre-Omicron wave were unvaccinated compared with 5.0% in Omicron.
Among people aged under 18, almost half had not received a COVID-19 vaccination, and 38% had received 2 or more doses, consistent with the staged rollout where certain groups were prioritised before others (such as aged care residents and frontline health care workers). It should be noted that the COVID-19 vaccination program and recommendations were dynamic and may have evolved over time (see Technical notes). For example, during the analysis period, COVID-19 vaccinations were prioritised for year 12 students to support physical attendance at schools and complete final year exams. However, at the time of this analysis (2024), a primary dose is only recommended for people younger than 18 years if they have specific risk factors or are immunocompromised.
The percentage of people aged 18 and over who were unvaccinated prior to their most recent COVID-19 diagnosis by the end of 2022:
- was lowest in Inner regional areas (5.9%) and highest in Remote and very remote areas (8.4%)
- decreased with increasing socioeconomic group, from 9.3% in the lowest group to 4.0% in the highest group.
Figure 6: Number and percentage of people with COVID-19 by number of COVID-19 vaccine doses at last COVID-19 diagnosis date, by population group (to 31 December 2022)
Bar charts show the percentage by age group and number of vaccine doses. Menu options are available to view number or percentage for the disaggregation, or by population groups or state/territory of usual residence.
Notes:
- Number of vaccine doses is calculated as the total number of COVID-19 vaccinations recorded on the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) 14 days or more prior to a person's last COVID-19 diagnosis. See Technical notes for further details.
- The number and percentage of people by number of vaccine doses by remoteness area, socioeconomic group and state/territory of usual residence are only for those age 18 and over.
See Data tables to access downloadable data containing COVID-19 vaccination status among people diagnosed with COVID-19.
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Department of Health and Aged Care (2021) ‘COVID-19 vaccination – Australia's COVID-19 vaccine national roll-out strategy’, Department of Health and Aged Care, Australian Government, accessed 13 November 2024.
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