For the fourth dose, a “heterologous scheme” will be used, which consists of combining different vaccines.
The health authorities of Chile, one of the countries with the highest vaccination rate in the world, announced this Thursday that they will begin to apply the fourth dose of the covid-19 vaccine from the middle of next February.
“As of the second half of February, we have budgeted to start with this fourth dose (…) Studies show that there is a drop in the rate of antibodies, but that there is a immune memory that can be reactivated with a new boost”Said the Chilean Minister of Health, Enrique Paris.
For the fourth dose, a “heterologous scheme” will be used, which consists of combine different vaccines and that it has proven “to be successful,” added Paris at a press conference.
Chile thus joins Israel, the first country in the world to bet on the fourth dose, which will begin to apply it to those over 60 and health workers four months after the third injection.
The South American country has deployed one of the most successful vaccination strategies in the world, reaching 91% of the target population with two doses, mostly with the Chinese vaccine. Sinovac, but also Pfizer, AstraZeneca and CanSino
To date, 10.2 million booster doses have also been administered, but there are more than 1.5 million laggards who could have and have not.
With the aim of stopping the spread of the virus, starting next January 1, everyone over 18 years of age will be required to receive the third dose in order to use their vaccination card, a government pass that allows events with greater capacity and to be attended in the interior of bars and restaurants.
“Unvaccinated people have a 40 times higher risk of dying than vaccinated people”, Alerted the minister.
The pandemic, which had its worst peak between last March and June and forced 90% of the population to be confined once again, has been under control for more than three months.
New daily cases remain around 1,500, with 1,504 infections registered this Thursday, while deaths have not exceeded a hundred in a long time and the positivity rate has not reached 3%.
The authorities confirmed at the end of November the arrival of the contagious omicron variant, which is setting off alarms in different parts of the world, mainly Europe, and to date only about 130 cases have been detected.
Chile, which adds almost 1.9 million infections and 38,954 deaths throughout the pandemic, enjoys wide freedoms, has open borders since October and does not register any municipality in total quarantine. (I)
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