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Beginning Oct. 17, Austria will begin booster vaccination against corona virus. However, who will receive it and how it will be done is still unclear.
Third vaccination dose fixed
As of October 17, nine months after the first people in Austria received their second corona vaccination, booster vaccinations will begin. Whether and when this will actually be necessary for all healthy individuals, however, cannot yet be conclusively assessed based on the current study situation, according to the Ministry of Health. “The National Vaccination Committee is continuously monitoring developments here,” Health Ministry said as published by the Austrian Press Agency.
Third Corona vaccination might not be necessary for all healthy people
Currently, it is especially important that people who have not yet been vaccinated get immunized and that as many as possible complete their vaccination protection to give themselves the best possible protection against Delta.
In any case, booster vaccinations should start with residents in nursing homes and old people’s homes, as well as with high-risk groups. Details such as the use of cross-vaccination, intervals and target groups are still to be clarified on the basis of recommendations from the National Immunization Panel (NIG).
Vaccination panel to set time window for boosters
The NIG will specify the time window in which the third vaccination should ideally take place. The same applies to the definition of those groups that need a booster at all. From today’s perspective, it is assumed that after a complete vaccination series – that is, apart from single-use vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, two stings – a protective effect is given for around nine months. Accordingly, the booster vaccination will also start with those vulnerable groups that were the first to be vaccinated against the coronavirus in Austria.
It is also not yet clear whether there will be guidelines or recommendations to rely on cross-vaccination for the third sting and thus on a different vaccine than for the first two stings. What is certain is that the European Union will increasingly rely on mRNA vaccines for procurement starting in the fall. “A concrete vaccination recommendation for the 3rd vaccination of the general population will be made at a given time on the part of the National Vaccination Board,” the ministry says. It is assumed that further data on the vaccines will be available by then in order to regularly re-evaluate the currently valid recommendations and assumptions and to adjust them if necessary, for example because of new virus variants.
-source: vienna.at/APA/picture: pixabay.com
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