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Health Ministry urges booster dose to avoid crisis

20 Dec 2021

BY Buddhika Samaraweera The Health Ministry has urged people to obtain the booster Covid-19 vaccine third dose in order to prevent or minimise possible serious complications in the event of an increase of Covid-19 infected patients in the future, The Morning learnt. Speaking to the media yesterday (20), Health Ministry Communications Director, Public Health Services Deputy Director General, and Disaster Preparedness and Response Division Head, Dr. Hemantha Herath said: “At present, there is no considerable increase in the number of Covid-19 cases, so one might think that it is not essential to obtain a booster third dose, but we very responsibly ask all eligible persons to obtain the booster third dose in order to prevent or minimise possible serious complications in the future.” Sri Lanka is currently administering the US-German-made Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine as the third dose. As per the data available on the website of the Epidemiology Unit, Sri Lanka has, as of 6.15 p.m. yesterday (20), administered a total of 2,505,477 Pfizer-BioNTech doses as the third dose. Meanwhile, pointing out that a person infected with Covid-19 should only receive the third dose of a Covid-19 vaccine six months after recovery, Dr. Herath told The Morning last week that if such a person obtains it before six months, the vaccine’s protection could be neutralised by the antibodies created due to the Covid-19 infection.  “Previously, it was recommended that the third dose be taken two weeks after recovering from the Covid-19 infection, but now that period has been extended up to six months. If a person who recovered from Covid-19 obtains it before the prescribed period, the vaccine’s protection cannot be ensured,” he said.  


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