Booster shots to be rolled out on Monday – Dr Anthony announces

…vaccination for 5-11 yr old cohort delayed

Starting from next week, COVID-19 booster shots will be administered to person aged 50 years and older; or any adult patient that is suffering from comorbidities.
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony disclosed on Friday that six months after the second shot is taken, the booster dose can be administered for these two cohorts. For the single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine, the booster jab can be administered after 52 days. The Ministry is using the existing vaccines in the country to roll out this new leg of the vaccination campaign. In addition, the booster shots can different from the shot that was initially taken.
“Out of an abundance of caution, what we are going to do from next week is that we want to make booster shots available to persons 50 years and above. Once you passed 50, you can come into any one of the vaccination sites and we’d be able to give you a booster if you’d like a booster,” said the Minister.
Authorities arrived at this decision after compelling data suggested that six months after the first dose, immunity starts to wean. To avoid the chance of breakthrough infections or risk compromised protection, the booster shot is now offered.
“We have been contemplating how do we move forward with this and we have concluded based on data and recommendation from more stringent authorities that a booster shot is necessary. What that data has shown is that six months after the second dose, immunity starts to wean. Therefore, if the immunity starts to wean, the chances are that persons can get infected, there can be breakthrough infections and the protection that the vaccine would offer, that can start to wean,” he detailed.
Comorbid conditions include cancer, cerebrovascular diseases, chronic kidney diseases, chronic lung diseases, chronic liver diseases, diabetes, Down Syndrome, heart conditions, HIV, mental health disorders, neurological conditions, obesity, pregnancy, sickle cell anaemia, tuberculosis, solid organ transplant patients, smokers or those with substance use disorder.
“Any one of these persons, if you have such a condition, then you’re eligible for booster,” said Dr Anthony.
In Guyana, there is vaccination coverage of 77 per cent first doses and 52.1 per cent second doses. Additionally, some 19,796 adolescents are fully immunised.

Delayed
The Health Ministry had planned to start the rollout of Pfizer shots on November 19 for children between the ages of five and 11. However, this has since been delayed pending the arrival of special doses for this age cohort. The new formulation of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use in children would require two doses three weeks apart.
“Pfizer has made special vaccination for this age group. While it is the same ingredients and everything, the packaging has been different and we have [been] making efforts to source that. Unfortunately, we were not able to get it in time to start our vaccination as we had intended. Therefore, we will have to defer that until we get those special doses,” said Dr Anthony.
On October 29, the Food and Drug Administration granted Emergency Use Authorisation for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children within this category. On November 2, 2021, after a systematic review of available data, the Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices made an interim recommendation to use the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in children in the United States for the prevention of COVID-19.
The double-dose vaccine has an efficacy of about 95 per cent and is one of two vaccines approved for children by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).