Since third doses of the Covid-19 vaccine should not be taken too early, the Federal Government has proposed offering these booster shot for most Coronavirus vaccines this year to the UAE public – but only six to eight months after taking the second dose.
“The duration might differ from vaccine to vaccine but after six to eight months of the second shot, most of the Covid vaccines will require a booster dose,” Dr Farida Al Hosani, the federal government’s health spokesperson, said.
Highlighting priority for the elderly and people with chronic diseases due to their high risk of suffering covid-19 complications, she said everyone was being urged to take the booster vaccine dose.
However, with antibody tests are being carried out in some hospitals, the government had suggested that those who were found to having a low antibodies count could ask for taking a booster dose at an earlier date Dr Al Hosani said, adding that, irrespective of this result, her advice was for people to wait until the six-month mark.
“We are actually not recommending the antibody test before taking the refresher. Most likely, it is normal that you will get low antibodies after three months from the second dose, and this is the case for most of the vaccines as well, ” she said while emphasizing that people — who have one brand vaccine jab – should not take a different brand vaccine jab as a booster.
Dr Hosani was commenting on reports about some residents who took the Sinopharm vaccine and wanted to take Pfizer-BioNTech jabs to travel abroad.
“We are currently not recommending mixing of vaccines jabs as there is not enough data about the safety of this practice and also that many countries have warned about mixing the vaccine,” Dr Hosani said, adding that: “Limited studies are being done about mixing vaccines – such as between AstraZeneca and Pfizer – though we are not sure about the safety of such practices and their side-effects.”
