The Department of Health announced that from today (24 December, 2021) J&J booster vaccinations will be available to those who received their initial J&J vaccines less than two months ago. The Department further announced that Pfizer booster vaccinations will be available from 28 December 2021 to those who received their final doses of Pfizer vaccines six months or more ago.
“This is a significant and welcome development and we encourage all those who have had their vaccines to get their booster shots as soon as possible. Importantly, we want to encourage all those, especially healthcare workers, who have yet to be vaccinated to do so not only for their own health, but for the health of the nation,” says Dr Angelique Coetzee, chairperson of SAMA.
Another important announcement is that booster vaccinations, for now, will be homologous, in other words, those who received J&J will receive J&J shots and those who received Pfizer, will receive Pfizer booster shots.
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) approved the heterologous boosting with J&J to supplement the Pfizer vaccine and other approved mRNA vaccines. SAMA hopes that this will be implemented by NDoH in early 2022.
SAMA is further of the opinion that similar approval be given to Pfizer, in order to allow heterologous boosters shots of the J&J regime with Pfizer within the first quarter of 2022. Evidence from studies on heterologous vaccination suggests that the combination of viral vector (J&J) vaccines and mRNA (Pfizer) vaccines produces good levels of antibodies against the Covid-19 virus and a higher T-cell response than using the same vaccine (homologous vaccination) whether in a primary or booster regimen.
“Along with other measures such as wearing masks and social distancing, vaccination remains a key intervention against Covid-19. If our country is to recover its overall health, and economically, it is imperative that as many citizens as possible are vaccinated, and receive their booster vaccines. We cannot stress enough how important this is, and we urge everyone to play their part in realising these recoveries,” Coetzee said.
