HANOI, Dec 20 (Vietnam News/ANN): The Vietnamese health ministry has reduced the waiting time between the second Covid-19 vaccine dose of the primary course and the booster shot.
Instead of six months, the latest booster guidelines say the third jab can be administered just three months after people received their second shot.
In line with World Health Organisation’s recommendations, the health ministry defines booster dose as the one given to people who have completed the primary course of vaccination, but since the protective efficacy of the vaccine wanes over time, a booster is needed to ‘restore’ the vaccine effectiveness from a level deemed no longer sufficient.
An ‘additional dose,’ on the other hand, is defined as part of an ‘extended primary course’ for people who have the standard dosage but the immune response is still not good enough, and is meant help establish a sufficient level of antibodies and protection against disease.
Immunocompromised people or the elderly may have a poorer immune response than the general population in response to a standard primary course.
Primary course refers to a standard dosage and schedule as prescribed by the manufacturers.
Covid-19 vaccines used in Vietnam are mostly in the two-dose regimen group, like AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Pfizer, Moderna, etc., with the exception of a limited amount of Cuba’s Abdala vaccines which are three-dose.
The additional dose is administered at least 28 days after the last dose of the primary course, while the booster/repeat shots are administered at least three months after the last dose of the primary course or the additional dose.
In the guidelines, the additional doses will be given to people who have received the primary course, but suffer from moderate to severe immunodeficiency such as organ transplant recipients, cancer patients, people with HIV, taking immunosuppressive drugs or treated with such drugs within six months, as well as people who have received two doses of Sinopharm’s Vero Cell, Inactivated vaccine or Sputnik V vaccines.
The additional dose is administered 28 days or three months after the last vaccine dose.
The vaccines to be used are either the same type with the primary course, or mRNA technology vaccines (Pfizer or Moderna).
People with medical authorities’ indication to receive the additional dose can be considered to have completed the primary course after getting the additional dose.
The booster vaccine shots are to be given to all adult population (aged 18 and above) who have received the primary course, with the goal of covering 100 per cent of all people with underlying health problems or requiring medical care, people from 50 years old and above, people who are directly involved with Covid-19 testing and treatment of Covid-19 patients, and medical workers.
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