SAMA delighted at the availability of booster shots
The South African Medical Association (SAMA) is encouraged by developments announced by the National Department of Health(NDoH) that COVID-19 vaccine booster shots will be available within the next week.
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.