Second COVID-19 booster dose for vulnerable groups
Published:Friday | August 19, 2022 | 12:06 AM
THE MINISTRY of Health and Wellness has announced that a second booster dose of COVID-19 vaccines is to be offered to vulnerable groups.
It’s being offered to healthcare workers, people over 60 years old, and immunocompromised persons.
The health ministry says the move follows recent confirmation of the highly transmissible Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants in Jamaica.
“An additional booster dose will offer protection from infection and severe outcomes associated with COVID-19, particularly to members of the highest risk groups,” a press release from the ministry on Wednesday evening said.
Second doses are to be administered as follows:
- Persons who have taken AstraZeneca are to receive the Pfizer vaccine as the second booster dose four months following their first booster.
- Persons who have taken a Pfizer vaccine are to receive Pfizer as the second booster dose four months following their first booster.
- Persons who have taken the Johnson and Johnson vaccine are to take the Pfizer vaccine as the second booster dose at least four months after the first booster dose.
- Persons who took the Sinopharm vaccine are to receive a second booster dose of the vaccine four months after the first booster.
The health ministry says as at Wednesday, 39,330 persons had received a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccines.
A total of 710,718 have taken a first dose and 609,015 a second dose.