The spokesperson for the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar announced Wednesday, that those who have received a COVID-19 vaccine shot since three months from the category of the elderly and patients with chronic or immune diseases, needs to receive a new booster dose, whatever it is the third or fourth or fifth.
Speaking to Al-Masry Al-Youm, he explained that allowing for a new booster shot was previously announced by the ministry on its page.
Abdel-Ghaffar pointed out that the difference this time is that the ministry did not send a text message on the phones to those who reached this period specified for receiving the vaccine, because those messages were stopped recently.
“Those who have reached six months from other groups since receiving the last shot should also receive a new booster dose,” he said.
The spokesperson also ruled out issuing an explanatory table with the names of the booster doses, as was the case for the third dose.
All vaccines are available and suitable for everyone, he assured, adding that it is not required to be associated with a particular vaccine.
He also stressed the matter is no longer related to the number of doses that the citizen received, but rather to the period prior to receiving the upcoming dose of the vaccine.
Abdel-Ghaffar added that whoever received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine can receive the booster dose after two months.
At the beginning of this July the ministry revealed that it had monitored an increase in community infection rates with coronavirus by 6.9 percent.
The spokesperson for the Ministry of Health attributed this increase to a number of reasons, chief among them the emergence of some sub-mutants of Omicron that spread faster, as well as citizen laxity in adhering to precautionary measures and wearing facemasks, especially during gatherings and in closed and poorly ventilated places.
The reasons also included a decrease in acquired immunity from vaccination or previous infection due to the passage of more than six months after one of them.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
