(Bloomberg) — South Africa plans to offer additional Covid-19 booster vaccines to people at highest risk of complications associated with the disease.
The government intends making top-up inoculations available to qualifying adults a minimum of 180 days after they had their last shot, Foster Mohale, a spokesman for the health department, said in an emailed statement Wednesday. Those aged 18 to 49 are currently eligible to get three vaccines and those 50 and older four shots.
“This next booster will be a voluntary dose and not part of a wide community campaign,” Mohale said.
South Africa suffered severe coronavirus waves over the past two years, but the number new cases have slowed as increasing numbers of people gained a degree of immunity after contracting the disease or getting vaccinated. More than 4 million infections have been recorded so far and excess death data, which measures fatalities against an historical average, show that one in 500 citizens died from the disease.
Children aged between five and 11 who have specified chronic medical conditions and who are referred by a clinician will also be offered two doses of the pediatric Pfizer Inc. vaccine early next year, with an interval of 21 days between them, Mohale said.
“Despite the current low hospitalization and mortality rates, the pandemic continues threaten the lives of vulnerable people,” he said. “Vaccination still provide the best protection against severe disease as well as long Covid.”
Long Covid is a term used to describe complications ranging from lethargy to an increased risk of heart disease experienced by some people after an initial Covid-19 infection.
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