Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) — comprised of all state and territory Chief Health Officers, it provides advice to the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council and the National Cabinet relating to infectious diseases.
Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) — advises the Minister for Health on the medical administration of vaccines and other immunisation issues in Australia. A COVID-19 Working Group was established within ATAGI to provide advice to the Minister on the immunisation program for COVID-19 vaccines, specifically.
COVID-19 — an infectious disease spread by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
COVID-19 was first identified in December 2019 and was declared a public health emergency of international concern in January 2020.
Delta (B.1.617.2) — a contagious variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that was first identified in late 2020 and quickly became the dominant strain in many countries. Individuals infected with Delta faced more severe symptoms and were more likely to require hospitalisation than those infected by preceding variants of the virus.
JobKeeper — an employee wage subsidy paid by the Australian Government to businesses that met revenue decline thresholds during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. JobKeeper was largest component of the government’s economic stimulus measures during the pandemic.
JobSeeker — the main income support payment for Australians aged 22 to retirement age who are looking for work, or who are temporarily unable to work or study due to illness, injury or people bereaved following the death of a partner.
Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines — most vaccines use an inactive virus to stimulate an immune response in the recipient. This promotes a rapid and effective immune response if the recipient is exposed to the virus in the future. In contrast, some newer types of vaccine teach cells how to produce a disease-specific protein to trigger an immune response. These are mRNA vaccines. If the recipient of an mRNA vaccine is later exposed to the virus against which they were vaccinated, their immune system will recognise the specific protein of the virus and quickly mount an attack before it can cause serious illness.
National Cabinet — comprised of all state premiers and territory chief ministers, chaired by the Prime Minister. National Cabinet was established as a subcommittee of Cabinet in March 2020 to oversee the health and economic response to COVID-19 in Australia. Implementation and decisions remain the responsibility of respective Commonwealth, state, and territory governments.
National COVID-19 Commission Advisory Board (NCC) — see National COVID-19 Coordination Commission.
National COVID-19 Coordination Commission — a body formed in March 2020 to advise the government on mitigating the economic and social impacts of the pandemic, consisting primarily of business leaders and senior public servants. It was superseded in July 2020 by the National COVID-19 Commission Advisory Board (NCC).
National Coordination Mechanism — established in March 2020 to provide a consultative forum for coordination with state and territory governments,
non-government organisations, and industry.
National plan to transition Australia’s national COVID-19 response (National Plan) — a four-step transition plan for Australia’s national
COVID-19 response, agreed to by the National Cabinet in July 2021. The four phases of the Plan include: vaccinate, prepare, and pilot; vaccination transition; vaccination consolidation; and a final post-vaccination phase.
Omicron (variant B.1.1.529) — a highly-infectious variant of SARS-CoV-2 that was identified in November 2021 and rapidly spread across the world. Community transmission of Omicron was first reported in Australia in early December 2021. BA.2 is a seemingly more transmissible sub-variant of Omicron that was identified in Australia in January 2022 and quickly became the dominant strain of the virus.
Rapid antigen tests (RAT) — a quick test for COVID-19 infections that is simple enough to be performed by individuals at home or in the workplace without supervision. RATs take around 10–15 minutes to yield a result and work much like an at-home pregnancy test. RATs are less accurate than the laboratory-based polymerase chain reaction tests but are generally considered reliable when used repeatedly by the same individual.
Ribonucleic acid (RNA) — a single-stranded chain of cells that processes protein and may carry the genetic information of a virus like COVID-19.
Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR or PCR) — a highly-sensitive laboratory-based system for testing for COVID-19. PCR tests pick up miniscule amounts of ribonucleic acid or RNA, a single-stranded chain of cells that processes protein and may carry the genetic information of a virus like COVID-19. PCR testing is relatively expensive and can take hours or days to yield a result.
Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) — the agency within the Department of Health responsible for regulating and ensuring access to medicines and therapeutic goods.