Africa-Press – Mauritius. The administration of the 2nd COVID-19 booster dose vaccine for persons aged 59 years and above and high-risk patients was launched, today, by the Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Kailesh Kumar Singh Jagutpal, at the Swami Vivekananda International Convention Centre, Pailles.
In a statement, Dr Jagutpal underlined that the administration of the 2nd booster dose vaccine will be carried out in all Vaccination Centres and the five Regional Hospitals.
He said that the 2nd booster dose is recommended especially in the wake of the spread of new variants which are highly contagious and the change in season.
The Health Minister highlighted that the priority of Government is to ensure the protection of the population against COVID-19, especially the most vulnerable and those with comorbidities.
In that context, he said that the 2nd booster dose will be administered to raise waning protection. He further appealed to the population to get vaccinated and to abide by all sanitary and precautionary measures.
Administration of 2nd booster dose vaccine The 2nd booster dose can be administered four months after the 1st booster dose. It is highly recommended to get the 2nd booster not later than six months after the administration of the 1st booster dose.
The 2nd booster dose will be equivalent to a third dose to those who received a booster dose following a single dose of Janssen vaccine and a fourth dose to those who received a booster dose following two doses of AstraZeneca/Covishield, Covaxin, Sinopharm, Sputnik V, Pfizer BioNTech or Moderna vaccine.
The concerned high-risk patients are those: undergoing dialysis treatment; who have had an organ transplant; with cancer; with severe respiratory diseases; with trisomy; on immunosuppressants; living with HIV; with obesity; with high blood pressure and ischaemic heart diseases.
The vaccine to be administered as 2nd booster dose is the Pfizer vaccine for high-risk patients aged 40 to 59 years old, and for persons aged 59 years and above; and Moderna vaccine for high-risk patients aged 18 to 39 years old.
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