The Department of Health announces changes on vaccination programme, which will be effective from today and Wednesday.
With the guidance by scientific evidence, the changes will help increase uptake to Covid-19 vaccine in South Africa.
Booster shots and vaccines
All individuals older than 18 that have received one dose of the Johnson and Johnson (J&J) vaccine will now be eligible to receive a booster dose of either a J&J or a Pfizer booster shot, (homologous vaccine), after two months (60 days).
This change will take effect on Monday.
Government has also changed the time interval between the first and second doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
Those who are vaccinated will no longer have to wait 42 days to get their second dose. This has now been reduced to 21 days, and will take effect from Wednesday.
According to the health department, those who are fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine will now be eligible for booster dose three months (90 days) after the second dose.
The previous waiting period was 180 days (six months).
ALSO READ: WATCH: Anti-vax students arrested outside UFS following protest
EVDS upgrades
“The decision regarding which vaccine to administer as a booster should be guided by vaccine availability.
“Thus, if both vaccines are available at a vaccination site, homologous boosting should be preferred, unless the vaccine requests to receive a heterologous or different booster dose, or has a history of experiencing an adverseevent following immunisation”, the Department of Health said in the statement.
The Electronic Vaccine Data System (EVDS) will be updated to enable individuals who got their primary vaccine doses outside South Africa and are eligible for booster shots to be registered on the system to receive boosters..
“More information regarding the date at which the functionality to record such doses on the EVDS will be communicated once this is finalised and available on the EVDS,” the department said.
“Whilst the Covid-19 vaccination programme initially recommended a 14-day interval between an individual receiving a Covid-19 vaccine and any other vaccination, this is no longer required”, they concluded.
