Three categories eligible for COVID vaccine boosters - Anthony

With COVID-19 booster doses being rolled out this week, the Minister of Health has announced that persons fully inoculated with the Sputnik V vaccine can receive the one-shot Johnson & Johnson (J&J) as a booster.

During his daily COVID-19 update yesterday, Dr Frank Anthony gave the list of vaccines that persons can receive as a booster.

Guyana purchased 34,000 doses of the J&J vaccine and it is unclear how many have been used up. A large number of persons have taken the Sputnik vaccine here.

According to Anthony there are now three categories of persons who can be considered eligible for a booster, these include anyone 50 years and above, adults who have comorbidities and healthcare workers and persons who are at additional risk of contracting COVID-19 because of their job. Persons become eligible if they fall into these categories and had received their second shot of a two-dose vaccine six months prior.

He noted that the authorities have administered a number of vaccines here: Pfizer, Sinopharm, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Sputnik V and less than 1000 doses of Moderna. When looking at the spectrum of vaccines, the health minister said for persons who have received both doses of Pfizer they can receive the same vaccine as a booster while persons who have received Moderna can receive Pfizer as there are no Moderna jabs available here.

Those who have received the Russianmade Sputnik V vaccine can take the single-dose Johnson & Johnson as a booster as he mentioned that it would complement the series.

As it relates to those who have taken the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Anthony said that persons can receive a booster after 52 days. He added that persons who have received both doses of Sinopharm can receive a Sinopharm booster between 3 to 6 months after being fully inoculated.

For persons fully vaccinated with AstraZeneca they can receive another shot of the same vaccine or have an mRNA vaccine like Pfizer as their booster shot.

“So anyone who wants to get their booster can come to anyone of our facilities and ask for the booster, we will require you to bring your vaccination card so that they can write your dosage into the card,” the health minister said.