Last Tuesday, November 23, the Ministry of Health confirmed that the application of booster doses would begin for the population between 18 and 49 years old. This announcement was made a few days after opening the immunization phase for people over 50 years of age who have completed four months after completing their scheme.
With these new measures, the Government seeks to mitigate the impact that is expected with the fourth peak and for this, the head of the Health portfolio, Fernando Ruiz, assured that the country has the capacity to supply the application of vaccines, for those who do not they have the first dose, for those who need to complete the entire scheme and, also, for those who already require the booster dose.
Once the vaccines are assured, the Ministry explained that the application time for the reinforcement will be six months after the last dose, and according to how the stages of the National Vaccination Plan are developed, “of the first group vaccinated of Stage 1 and Stage 2 The six months have already passed and, therefore, they would be getting vaccinated as of today, ”Ruiz said Tuesday.
In line with this, the minister stressed that the Vaccine Advisory Committee also recommended applying the doses heterologously, since as explained by Areandina epidemiologist Ángel Muegues, this strategy, which consists of applying a different vaccine, seeks to maximize the mechanisms against a virus. “It can trigger complementary responses in the immune system; mixing vaccines has been shown to produce higher antibody titers than with a single type of vaccine ”.
Thus, those who have been vaccinated with Pfizer and Moderna, can apply AstraZeneca since it is a viral vector, while those who have Sinovac can with any of the above, except Pfizer to give priority to pregnant women.
It should be noted that Moderna and Pfizer announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) extended the authorization of emergency use of the booster dose of the anticovid booster vaccine for all adults over 18 years of age.
