Chile will start administering COVID-19 booster shot to Sinovac recipients.
Last Thursday, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said that Chile will start administering a COVID-19 booster shot to those already vaccinated with Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine after studies showed that the initial two doses of the said vaccine lose some effectiveness after several months.
Inquirer reported that Chile launched one of the world’s fastest mass vaccination campaigns against COVID-19 last February and had fully vaccinated more than 60% of its population, predominantly with Sinovac’s CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine.
In a televised address, Pinera said that they have decided to start a reinforcement of the vaccination of those who had already received both doses of Sinovac vaccine.
Chile will also start administering an additional dose of AstraZeneca vaccine on August 11, starting with citizens over 55 years old who received their shots before March 31.
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Chile joined the United States, France, Germany, UK, and Israel in giving booster shots despite a plea by the World Health Organization (WHO) to hold off until more people around the world can get their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
According to Health Subsecretary Paula Daza, international and domestic studies suggested that COVID-19 booster shots would help reinforce immunity, but that Chile had already donated COVID-19 vaccines to its neighbors and would continue to help as needed.
The death toll in Chile from the coronavirus pandemic stood at 35,806 and there had been about 1.6 million confirmed coronavirus cases in total.
Data released by the Chilean government last Tuesday suggested Sinovac vaccine’s effectiveness at preventing symptomatic coronavirus infection among its recipients fell from 67% when measured between February and April to 58.5% when measured again at the beginning of July.
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