Israel, Chile apply a second boost to their population, Greece will do it soon in immunosuppressed people.
Israel and Chile are the first in the world to be applying the fourth doses of vaccines to their population to try to control the spread of COVID-19, Greece soon joined, but only to immunosuppressed people. European countries, the United Kingdom and some in Latin America, such as Ecuador, have stated that they are also considering this measure. However, WHO experts said it may be insufficient.
Faced with this possible scenario, experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) urged vaccine manufacturers to improve immunizers to stop the transmission of the disease, which with its omicron variant keeps the world immersed in new waves of cases .
“A vaccination strategy based on repeated booster doses” of the first vaccines “has little chance of being appropriate or feasible,” the WHO Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on the composition of COVID vaccines said in a statement. -19.
“Vaccines against covid with a strong impact on prevention and transmission, in addition to the prevention of severe cases and deaths, are needed and should be developed,” the group said.
“While waiting for these vaccines to become available, and as the SARS-CoV-2 virus evolves, it may be necessary to update the composition of current anticovid vaccines, to ensure that they continue to provide the levels of protection recommended by the WHO. against infection and disease ”caused by the variants, considered the group of experts.
Regarding the possible need for a fourth dose, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) stressed that there is still not enough data to talk about this scenario, but “a strategy” that depends on repeated vaccination in a short term is “quite worrying,” and considered a long-term strategy is necessary, making it “clear that we cannot give continuous booster doses every three or four months.”
Situation in the countries
Meanwhile, the three countries that have already opted for this measure are appealing to the “responsibility” of their citizens and have not yet decided on more extreme measures such as confinements.
Israel, facing a wave of the virus due to the highly contagious omicron variant, closed its borders after the discovery of the first omicron case in late November, but opened them on Sunday, despite authorities facing a record contamination. in a country that was one of the first to vaccinate massively.
The number of cases is increasing, with prognoses of two to four million cases in a population of 9 million inhabitants. The government, estimating that the virus is already circulating in the country and that keeping the borders closed would not change anything -except penalizing the economy-, decided to reopen those borders to tourists.
The authorities have also kept bars and restaurants open for people with a vaccination card and have stopped tracking cases.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Tuesday night that “everyone must shoulder their responsibilities.”
The Health Ministry announced on Tuesday that contaminated people will be able to leave quarantine after seven days if they are asymptomatic and no longer after ten days as before.
Since December 2020, Israel was one of the first countries to massively vaccinate its population, and after proposing a new dose as of the boreal summer.
80% of the country’s adults have two doses, and just over half have taken three doses. But as the efficacy of the vaccine waned after several months, the government gave the green light for a fourth dose.
In the case of Chile, the country became the second to start applying the fourth dose on Monday, at a time when the omicron variant and the high mobility of the Christmas holidays have triggered infections.
The first to receive the second booster dose are immunosuppressed people, although from February 7 the vaccination will be extended to those over 55 years of age who have completed six months since their previous injection.
“Vaccines, with the passage of time, lose their effectiveness, the protection they generate decreases and the new variants also make them lose strength. And that is why it is very important to be prepared, to anticipate, ”said President Sebastián Piñera.
The pandemic, which had its most serious peak between last March and June and forced 90% of the population to be confined once again, had been under control for several months, but the Christmas holidays and the arrival of omicron have complicated the situation a bit.
Chile, where 1.8 million infections and more than 39,200 deaths have been registered since the beginning of the pandemic, surpassed the barrier of 4,000 new daily cases last Saturday for the first time in seven months. AFP.
Piñera pointed out that “it is likely” that in a few days the new daily infections will exceed 10,000, a mark that was not even reached in the worst moments.
Chile has one of the most successful inoculation campaigns in the world, with more than 92% of the population (19 million inhabitants) having a complete two-dose vaccination scheme.
For its part, in Greece, the National Vaccination Committee gave the green light on Tuesday to administer the fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine to immunosuppressed people.
The secretary general of Primary Care, Marios Themistokleus, announced that the system “is ready” and that the internet platform to request the fourth dose will open in the next one to two weeks.
The fourth installment of the vaccine will exclude the general population for the time being and is aimed only at a specific group, potentially around 250,000 people, with cases of immunosuppression.
Citizens eligible to receive the fourth dose will be able to do so between 3 and 6 months after receiving the third booster dose.
Themistokleus was optimistic that an extra fourth dose will not be necessary for the general population.
Vaccination progresses slowly in Greece and at the moment just over 67% of the population has the full schedule, while the increase in inoculations mainly occurs between booster doses, which are already around 37%. (I)
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