The application as a booster of a third dose of the vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is being carried out in many places, despite the fact that in some countries - especially in Africans - a good part of the population still does not receive nor the initial scheme.
It was last October when the advisory group of experts on vaccines of the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that patients from certain groups at risk receive a third additional dose of vaccine against COVID-19, despite the fact that the agency had requested in August a moratorium on these booster inoculations.
Likewise, the European Commission (EC) asked on Tuesday that the European Union countries accelerate the generalized administration of booster doses against COVID-19, given the rapid advance of infections in much of the EU and given the uncertainty generated by the new omicron variant.
At the Ecuador level, the booster dose of the anticovid vaccine was applied until November only to vulnerable people and the elderly. But as of this December 1, the immunizer is administered to anyone who has received the second dose six months before. This process was expected to start in January for the general population, but new circumstances advanced those plans.
Dr. Jonathan Abraham, assistant professor of microbiology at the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard University School of Medicine, explained the action these extra doses of anticovid vaccines have on the body.
"A booster dose tricks the immune system into thinking it is looking at a pathogen again, so the cells that make antibodies and other immune cells are activated," he said. "The quantity and quality of the antibodies that are produced can be improved."
The infectious disease specialist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston said these booster doses also help the immune system learn to do a better job of recognizing a germ and creating antibodies that target it more precisely. .
Abraham added that current COVID-19 vaccines are still extremely effective in preventing serious infections and death, but they are not 100 percent effective in slowing down the acquisition and transmission of the virus. Therefore, he believes that given the highly transmissible variants, we will need regular booster doses for years to come.
“There is a chance that, over time, the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein will change shape or mutate enough to require a boost with an updated strain antigen to prepare the immune system to recognize the mutant virus. ”, He detailed. "This situation would be more similar to what is done with vaccines against the seasonal influenza virus each year."
In Ecuador, those who completed the vaccination schedule with Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Sinovac will receive a booster dose of AstraZeneca after six months. In the case of those who received the CanSino single-dose, they will also receive it in six months. Check out the full schedule here.
