The Public Health Commission has approved this Thursday a new booster dose of the covid vaccine for the most vulnerable population: people over 80 years of age and residents in residences. However, they are not going to be administered yet. “The most appropriate time must be established according to the epidemiological situation,” says the Ministry of Health in a statement.
The minister, Carolina Darias, had already announced that the experts of the commission (made up of directors of public health from the ministry and the communities), were in favor of injecting a new dose to the most vulnerable people, but when new formulations of the medicine adapted to the new variants of the covid, foreseeably after the summer.
The vaccine being injected so far is produced from the original lineage discovered in Wuhan. Since then, there have been mutations that have been escaping this prophylaxis: although it has maintained good levels of protection against severe disease, it has been increasingly lower in the face of infection, something that not only happens because of the new variants, but due to the gradual decrease in antibodies in the body over the months.
The new booster dose will be the fourth injection against covid for the vulnerable population: 92.4% of those over 70 years of age already have the third. In their day they received two punctures from Pfizer or Moderna, who initially completed the regimen and a booster dose last fall.
The Public Health Commission has also approved vaccination against monkeypox, as this newspaper explained on Wednesday. “Currently, and taking into account the limited availability of doses, post-exposure vaccination is prioritized for people at high risk of severity or exposure. Pre-exposure vaccination is not recommended at this time, although it could be recommended later depending on the evolution of the outbreak and the availability of vaccines, ”says Health.
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