Colombian Ministry of Health announced that there will be fourth dose of the covid vaccine for older adults

The Minister of Health, Fernando Ruiz, told Caracol Radio that, after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the fourth dose or second dose of the covid-19 vaccine, the national government could give the green light in the coming weeks to application of biological in people over 60 years of age.

According to the minister to the Bogotá radio station, in a maximum of three weeks the Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Health will have to make a decision on whether or not to allow the supply of the immunizer to the elderly population of the country.

Likewise, the minister told Caracol Radio that, every year, the entire population will probably have to receive a new booster dose against the disease, so he pointed out that there are already pharmaceutical companies that are developing biologics whose immunity will last for a period of 12 months.

In this regard, the official explained to the broadcaster that the ideal scenario of application of these annual booster doses would be combined vaccines.

“For example, having combined vaccines. Have a covid vaccine and an influenza vaccine in the same puncture. This would help to substantially reduce all respiratory diseases,” the Minister of Health told the same media outlet.

Ruiz took advantage of Caracol Radio's microphones to reiterate to Colombians that, given the increase in infections that have occurred in other countries, the best way to avoid contracting the virus is to immunize against covid-19.

For his part, the infectiologist and coordinator of the Consensus on Covid-19 Care and Management in Colombia, a group that advises the Ministry of Health, Carlos Saavedra, however, assured in an interview with the newspaper El Colombiano that, as yet, there is not enough scientific evidence to indicate that adults over 60 years of age or older may receive the fourth dose of the vaccine.

In this regard, he explained to the Antioquia newspaper that the decision would be defined under assumptions, since there is a “suspicion” that there is “a decrease in antibodies three months after the last dose.”

It should be recalled that, since March 18, the Ministry of Health approved the fourth or second booster dose against covid-19 for people who are immunosuppressed, autoimmune or who have received transplants.

According to the Director of Promotion and Prevention of the Ministry of Health, Gerson Bermont, this second booster dose should be applied with the biological messenger RNA, 30 days after the last vaccine.

A week after the announcement, the Ministry of Health reported that it gave the green light to the population between the ages of 12 and 17 so that they could access the third dose of the covid-19 vaccine. According to Bermont, the biological intended for this group will be exclusively that of Pfizer, which must be applied four months after completing its initial scheme.

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