Adults with underlying medical conditions who are included in Phase 1b of COVID-19 vaccination broadly include cancer, conditions associated with a weakened immune system, mental health conditions, heart disease, lung disease, kidney disease, liver disease, diabetes, obesity and neurological conditions.
Specifically, individuals with the following are eligible under Phase 1b:
- Solid organ transplant recipients who are on immune suppressive therapy
- Adult survivors of childhood cancers
- Bone marrow transplant recipients or those on chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy or those on immune suppressive therapy for graft versus host disease
- Haematological diseases or cancers
- Including leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma
- Diagnosed within the past 5 years or on recently completed active treatment
- Non-haematological cancer
- Diagnosed within the past 5 years or on recently completed active treatment
- Chronic inflammatory conditions on medical treatment
- Including Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and similar who are being treated with Disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) or immune-suppressive or immunomodulatory therapies
- Generally not inclusive of people living with osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome or similar non-immunocompromising inflammatory conditions.
- Primary or acquired immunodeficiency
- Including congenital causes of immunodeficiency and HIV/AIDS
- Those with severe mental health conditions, including schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder
- Chronic renal (kidney) failure with a eGFR of <44mL/min
- Not including mild-moderate chronic kidney disease
- Heart disease
- Including ischaemic heart disease, valvular heart disease, cardiomyopathies and pulmonary hypertension
- Chronic lung disease
- Including Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, cystic fibrosis, interstitial lung disease
- Not including mild or moderate asthma
- Diabetes
- Severe obesity with a BMI ≥ 40kg/m2
- Chronic liver disease
- Some neurological conditions
- Including stroke, dementia, multiple sclerosis, motor neurone disease, Parkinson’s disease and cerebral palsy
- Generally not inclusive of migraine or cluster headaches
- Poorly controlled blood pressure (defined as two or more pharmacologic agents for blood pressure control, regardless of recent readings)
- Those with Down syndrome, muscular dystrophy, traumatic brain and spinal cord injury
You may wish to discuss your individual eligibility with your usual health care provider or General Practitioner.