You can now get your booster dose 3 months after your 2nd COVID-19 vaccine

People can now get their booster dose three months after getting their second COVID-19 vaccine instead of five months.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says while people have been advised to obtain their booster dose after at least 3 months from their second jab, they will be shortly advising a shorter interval period in recognition of the risk of disease surge.

Dr. Fong says he has instructed teams to go back to health facilities and do targeted booster programs for the vulnerable and the willing and to focus on the 12 to 18-year-olds through the school vaccination program.

He says they are close to opening an avenue to getting access to Paediatrics doses of vaccines.

The Permanent Secretary says they will continue to monitor the evidence on post-infection immunity based on quality data that is being generated globally, however, until they have a better sense of the role of post-infection immunity, the Ministry of Health will continue to define the level of protection based on vaccination numbers.

As of yesterday, a total of 116,069 individuals have so far received booster doses.

Dr. Fong adds given the current stocks of Pfizer vaccine, they will be using Pfizer for the ongoing primary 2 doses for children and adults and as the booster dose.

The Ministry has also recorded 18 new cases of which 5 new cases were recorded on Saturday, 8 new cases were recorded on Sunday and 5 new cases in the 24 hours ending at 8 am yesterday morning.