The National Advisory Commission on Vaccination (CNAV) is meeting to discuss the application of a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine for those over 50 who have two doses of Sinovac and one of Pfizerreported the Minister of Health, Daniel Salinas, to The Observer. What’s more, Vaccination with a third dose for young people between 12 and 17 years of age will also be discussed.
Those over 50 would be the second group indicated to receive a fourth dose of the vaccine, with immunosuppressed peoplewho receive a fourth vaccine since the booster dose was implemented in all those over 18 years of age.
The fourth dose for the general public continues as a possibility. The president, Luis Lacalle Pou, said that “Hopefully, according to some papers we’ve been reading, not necessary”, at a press conference on January 10. However, days later the Secretary of the Presidency, Álvaro Delgado, indicated that “There will be an annual revaccination, which is what the laboratory and the vaccine commission recommend today”in statements to the Florida press recorded by The Daily.
Uruguay acquired 3.7 million vaccines from Pfizer by 2022in a new addendum to the contract with the German laboratory signed in October 2021. With these doses it was intended to have the necessary vaccines to continue with the third dose vaccination scheme, which the government has marked as essential for the campaign against the virus on several occasionsand also for a possible annual booster.
Until February 9 82.9% of the Uruguayan population was vaccinated at least once against covidthe 76.2% have the complete vaccination schedule (two doses) while the 52.9% already have the booster vaccine.
PAHO’s warning
The deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Jarbas Barbosa, warned that “everyone over 60 years of age who received the vaccines produced by Sinovac or Sinopharm laboratories need a third dose” and they do not have their complete vaccination scheduleat a press conference held on December 8, before the massive arrival of the omicron variant.
At the time, Salinas told The Observer than Uruguay has a “vast majority” of people in that age group vaccinated with other products – Pfizer and a small amount AstraZeneca –for which he stated that the notice it was for “another country”. According to the minister, those vaccinated with Sinovac over 60 were those “with medical indication, or that they went ahead, or they did not like the other platform”and ensured that “Uruguay thought and acted differently”.
