-The National Government changed key points of the anticovid vaccination scheme that was being used in Colombia. From now on, a fourth anticovid dose will be applied to people who have diseases that severely affect their immune system or who have had organ transplants. Also, as EL COLOMBIANO had anticipated, it will be allowed to combine brands of anticovid vaccines in the first two doses.
The director of Promotion and Prevention of the Ministry of Health, Gerson Bermont, pointed out that for now the second anticovid booster will only be authorized under medical recommendation. The role of health professionals in this regard is crucial, since they will have the possibility of determining which brand of vaccine should be applied to a patient, only if they consider it pertinent. This will also be linked to the anticovid vaccine being available in the country and, of course, being authorized by Invima.
For populations that require it, the fourth anticovid dose may be applied 30 days following receiving the third dose. In the case of those who were vaccinated with the Janssen pharmaceutical monodose, this new booster will be the third dose.
The announcement might open the door for the rest of the population to receive a booster anticovid dose. In fact, less than two months following booster doses began to be given to people who had received transplants or had diseases that affected their immune system, the Ministry of Health announced that they would also apply them to people over 60 years of age. (See Background).
Claudia Vaca, director of the Medicines, Information and Power think tank of the National University, considered that the application of a fourth dose is “premature”. She even pointed out that there is still no scientific consensus on whether it is prudent to apply a third anticovid dose to the entire population.
“With such a high degree of vaccination and coronavirus contagion, there would be enough basic protection to think regarding applying a fourth dose,” Vaca said.
The approval of anticovid booster doses has caused, for example, that low-income countries cannot access vaccines, because they are hoarded by states with more resources. That is the case in Haiti, where less than 1% of the population has complete anticovid regimens.
Vaca concluded that providing reinforcements also has an impact on the health system and public finances. In contrast, he pointed out that vaccinators should pay more attention to increasing the coverage of people who still do not have the first dose of the vaccine or who have yet to complete their anticovid vaccination schedule.
Changes to the initial scheme
As EL COLOMBIANO had anticipated, the Ministry of Health decided that the initial vaccination schedule might be applied with different brands of vaccines. In other words, if a person received the first dose with Sinovac, they can receive the second dose with a messenger RNA vaccine – the brands that use this technology and that are available in Colombia are Pfizer and Moderna.
This decision was made in the face of the large number of people –7.3 million– who only have one anticovid dose, but have not taken the second.
Likewise, Gerson Bermont announced changes in the refrigeration of Pfizer pharmaceutical anticovid vaccines. “They can be stored for up to 9 months deep-freezing and up to two weeks at -25 or -19 degrees Celsius,” said Bermont, concluding that, once the dose is diluted, it should be applied within six hours.