by Kevon Browne
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN): “What I can tell you is that the clinics are now offering booster shots to persons who qualify. They’re also offering third shots to persons who qualify. And so if you’re over 65, and your last vaccination was six months out, you can go to the clinic and get your booster shot,” said Dr. Cameron Wilkinson, Medical Chief of Staff at the Joseph N France General Hospital.
Dr. Wilkinson made those remarks during the last COVID-19 press briefing hosted by the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) on November 3.
In trying to glean more information about the boosters, WINN called 311 on Friday (November 5), the COVID-19 Hotline, and was informed that they had received no information about third shots or boosters and suggested calling Health Centres.
And we did just that.
One Health Centre said they had not started giving out the extra shots because they had not received official word outside their community chat.
Another indicated that a meeting had to be held and that we should call back on Monday for more information.
Out of Four Health Centres, two said boosters were available, and one asked that we call back and the last said no.
Booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine have been circulating in the media since this summer. Experts realised that the virus was not going anywhere soon, and the immunity protection of vaccines would start to wane six months after the dosing regimen was completed (whether a one-dose course or a two-dose course).
Although the Director-general of the World Health Organisation, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, kept calling on countries to hold off on boosters until low-income nations got sufficient supplies of vaccines, boosters soon began shortly after in some of the richer countries, especially for those over 65 and who were immunocompromised.
But what is the difference between a third shot and a booster?
“There are some persons who can have a third shot; they are persons who are immunocompromised and who after getting their first two doses would not have mounted a sufficient antibody response, and so they will need to get a third shot to bring them to the level where a normal person with two shots would be. There are some persons who, six months after being vaccinated, their immunity starts to wane, and they will require a booster shot,” explained Dr. Wilkinson.
