Authorities consider shortening waiting period for getting third vaccine shot

Health officials are considering slashing the time required for individuals to wait before getting a COVID-19 booster shot.

Co-coordinator of the National COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign, Dr Elizabeth Ferdinand, made the disclosure on Friday as she renewed her call for individuals to come forward for the COVID-19 jab, even if they were previously infected with the virus.

Currently, individuals are only getting a first booster – which would equate to a third shot, or second shot in the case of the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The current wait time for the booster shot in Barbados is six months after an individual is fully vaccinated.

“Studies have shown that the immunity and the immune response wanes. It goes down after a period of time – they are saying around six months, and that is why a booster was introduced at six months.

“We are currently looking here in Barbados as to whether we should reduce that interval of time. Negotiations are going on,” said Dr Ferdinand, as she pointed out that some countries have already reduced that wait time, some as low as three months.

She was unable to say how soon that decision was likely to be taken, but indicated several factors had to be considered.

“The whole idea of if you are going to introduce it and when and at what stage, you look to see what is happening within your country – are cases going up, what age groups, what kind of people are being affected? And then you decide when are you going to bring in your boosters and what you are going to use. But right now, it is just one booster,” she said.

Encouraging people to get the jab, Dr Ferdinand said even if someone contracted the virus, “once you get better, as soon as a month has passed, you should come and get vaccinated”.

She further urged unvaccinated individuals to come forward and choose from one of the four vaccines available, stressing that with the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus being highly transmissible, it was likely to overwhelm the healthcare system.

“With this beginning of a wave which has started already with the 400 and 500 new cases every day, we have to be very careful . . . . People who get it may not have as many overt symptoms as with the Delta but the sheer number of people who might get it will probably overwhelm our polyclinics, family practitioners and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

“So we know vaccines can help and certainly help you from having to end up at doctors’ care, hospital or even intensive care at the Harrison Point [Isolation Centre]. So we are encouraging everyone who is eligible to come and get vaccinated,” said Dr Ferdinand.

She said individuals who missed the date for their second dose were still welcome to get the second dose.

Senior Medical Officer Dr Leslie Rollock said while no data was currently available on the number of people contracting the viral illness more than once, the numbers were becoming more noticeable.

However, she said they were not getting severely ill when re-infected.

“We actually had a few persons that we recognised they were diagnosed with COVID before and we are seeing them now a few months later with what looks like a new infection,” said Dr Rollock.

“It is not unexpected based on the changes in the virus . . . . The virus is changing so effectively the body has to recognise it to be able to stop it before it does anything, but right now we recognise that the virus manages to breach the initial defences of the body, so the person gets infected but not so far as to make them severely ill. That is to be expected,” she said. (MM)