Boosters for other groups will be phased in

Belize is not the only country recommending booster shots for its citizens. Countries in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, Africa and North America are administering booster shots among their most vulnerable populations, including those who are sixty years and older. Deaths among vaccinated persons are the highest among the sixty to eighty year old population.

Dr. Natalia Largaespada Beer

Dr. Natalia Largaespada Beer, Maternal & Child Health Technical Advisor, M.O.H.W.

“Also, this will be done in phases. So first phase are for health care workers, for persons sixty years and older and for persons with co-morbidities. It have been in discussion for a good while. It seems that, we use data to make decision. It is coming to a consensus that it is needed to get a booster dose. Before, we were saying that we don’t know if there would be a need for a booster dose. But right now, it is not only Belize. Many countries are already starting to administer booster dose.”

Paul Lopez

“Is the need for a booster shot directly connected to the emergence of new variants that are potentially more dangerous?”

Dr. Natalia Largaespada Beer

“I think we addressed a question like this earlier, that the vaccine may not be all together comparable. For them to be comparable, they would have to be, have the same study protocol, be studied in the same population, in the same time period. And, we know that all of them are different. So, in that case we can’t generalize. AstraZeneca was developed when there was a large number of cases in the U.S. But, other vaccines were developed before that large number of cases. So, there is a lot of criteria that one needs to consider when having these type of discussion. But, I think the bottom line is that we are looking at the data, internationally, we are looking at our local data, and we are making decisions, and at the center we have the people of Belize.”