Note: This story was published on January 19. Novavax has since been granted provisional approval. 

The head of Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination program insists there is capacity in the system for those who haven’t booked in for a booster shot.

77 people died with the virus yesterday which is the nation’s highest single-day toll since the pandemic began.

Lieutenant General John Frewen, the coordinator general of Operation COVID Shield, said there are appointments available.

“There are actually bookings available, every day there’s more bookings coming online every week,” he told Neil Breen.

“I understand it has been a little bit frustrating for some, but the booster numbers have been amazing, we are seeing around a quarter of a million Australians everyday getting their boosters.”

He said a fourth booster shot as part of the vaccine rollout was “under consideration”.

“The good news is that there are more than enough vaccines if that was to become a thing we’d be ready to go.”

On the long-awaited approval of the protein-based Novavax vaccine, Lieutenant General Frewen said they anticipated approval through the Therapeutic Goods Administration shortly.

“We think that approval is imminent, and again we are ready to distribute it across the country,” he said.

“We think there’s around 1-2 per cent of the population that have been holding out for Novavax, that’s the choice they have made, but once it’s approved it will be available and again if anyone has decided that’s what they want to wait for, it will be able to get it as quickly as they can.”

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