The Ministry of Health announced the reduction of the interval for the booster dose and the expansion of the age group that will receive the third dose. From now on, everyone aged 18 or over, who has taken the second injection at least five months ago, is now able to receive the third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Anticipating the booster dose is valid at this time of the pandemic, defended the infectologist at the Instituto de Infectologia Emílio Ribas, Jamal Suleiman, to CNN. The expert also highlighted the need for cross-immunization, which aims to increase protection from the combination of different vaccine platforms.
Data have shown that the interchangeability of vaccines as a booster dose helps protect people for a longer period of time.
Jamal Suleiman
So, whoever took two doses of Coronavac, should receive Janssen, AstraZeneza or Pfizer. Those who took two from AstraZeneca receive Pfizer, as Janssen has a platform similar to the one developed by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz). And the citizen who has already taken two doses of Pfizer should receive AstraZeneza as a backup.
For the 5 million Brazilians who only received one dose of Janssen, which until then was a single dose, it will be necessary to apply a second dose of the same immunizing agent and then, after five months, they will receive the third dose of Pfizer.
Jamal Suleiman believes that when everyone has taken the booster, “we should wait for a longer interval to apply the next dose”, that is, a resumption of the national vaccination campaign against Covid-19, which, according to the expert, should continue over the next few years, as well as the annual Influenza vaccination.
The infectologist reminds us that to consider the entire population immunized, it is still necessary to include people aged 5 to 11 in the National Immunization Plan, which should take place soon after authorization from the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa).
“First, this reinforcement is essential for us to close this complete package of the protected society and, for 2022, most likely, the vaccination of children, when we have more definitive answers. Then, yes, we complete the protection of humans.”
The infectologist defends that the time to remove the protective masks will be when the entire population has received the three doses. “From the moment we have everyone vaccinated in the booster doses, most likely we will be without the masks.”
He also recalls that “vaccine is not an isolated act, vaccine is a community act” and that Brazil will need to unite so that adherence to the third dose is complete and within the deadline established by the Ministry of Health.
“In this scenario, it is important that we do this reinforcement because the main objective of vaccines is to reduce the serious forms of the disease, but the infection continues to circulate in the population, which can facilitate the emergence of variants that can escape the vaccination process. ”
Reference: CNN Brasil
