The third dose of Corona vaccination is an important part of basic immunization against the virus, stresses Maria Paulke-Korinek of the Department of Immunization at the Ministry of Health.
Government begins preparation for third Corona vaccination
“The third dose of Covid-19 vaccination is an important part of basic immunization against corona virus,” Maria Paulke-Korinek of the Department of Immunization at the Ministry of Health said Thursday evening during an online presentation by the Austrian Society for Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine (ÖGIT). He said it is nonsensical and dangerous to postpone it when antibody levels are high, because no one knows what levels of antibodies in the blood protect against the virus.
Corona third vaccination contributes to basic immunization
“The time interval to the second vaccination is critical to the date of the third dose, not the antibody titer,” she explained. It should be no longer than six to nine months, according to the national vaccination schedule, for “at-risk” individuals, people who are particularly at risk for SARS-CoV-2 because of other illnesses, such as residents of nursing homes, homes for the elderly and all people who received AstraZeneca’s vector vaccine as the first series of vaccinations.
Third sting as early as six months after second Corona vaccination
Health care workers, home care workers, mobile care workers, and teachers and kindergarten teachers also can receive their third vaccine dose as early as six months after the second, Paulke-Korinek said. They should receive their third dose of Covid-19 vaccine no later than 12 months after that, as should everyone else, for that matter.
RNA vaccine recommended as booster in all cases, he said
Individuals recovered from Covid-19 would be considered as double-vaccinated with one dose received, the expert explained. That is, instead of two doses as the first series of vaccinations within six weeks, one is sufficient at first. They should then receive another vaccination for their basic immunization after six to nine or 12 months, depending on the group mentioned above. In all cases, an RNA vaccine would be recommended, i.e. a serum from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna. According to previous experience, the “vaccination reaction profile,” i.e., the risk for side effects and their frequencies, would be the same for the third dose as for the second.
Adapting vaccines to different SARS-CoV-2 variants.
There is currently no need to adapt vaccines to different SARS-CoV-2 variants, said Monika Redlberger-Fritz of the Center for Virology at the Medical University of Vienna. Response rates against the current Delta variant would be higher than for previous ones in some cases. “However, if we were to vaccinate specifically against delta, we would lose activity against other variants,” she explained. The sera currently in use would be “nicely in the middle” and work well against all current variants, she said.
— sources: APA/vienna.at/picture:pixabay.com
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