The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) will soon intensify its efforts to administer the COVID-19 booster dose to all fully vaccinated persons, as the country has completed a year since the launch of the largest vaccination campaign, said a senior health official yesterday.
Since December 23, 2020, National COVID-19 Vaccination Programme has administered more than five million doses of vaccines and 86% of the total population is now fully vaccinated with two doses, said Chair of the National Health Strategic Group on COVID-19 and Head of Infectious Diseases at Hamad Medical Corporation, Dr Abdullatif Al Khal.
“We still need to give the booster dose to all who took the two doses of the vaccine more than six months ago, and there are intensive efforts that will be announced soon,” said Dr. Al Khal speaking in a programme on Qatar TV.
The Ministry earlier announced that it will open a vaccination center in Umm Salal to provide booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
Since September, 223,447 COVID-19 booster vaccine doses have been administered. According to Dr. Al Khal preliminary studies have shown that existing vaccines are effective against the Omicron strain.
“As per many studies, after four to six months of second dose, the immunity begins to reduce against the Delta virus, and for Omicron, the immunity is very less,” said Dr. Al Khal.
“We call on everyone to take the booster vaccine. The side effects after this dose do not exceed the symptoms after the previous doses, so there is no need to be afraid,” he assured.
COVID-19 booster doses are administered at all Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) health centers and PHCC is directly contacting people who are eligible for the booster vaccine dose to set an appointment.
Also, anyone who is eligible and has not yet been contacted can call the PHCC hotline on 4027 7077 to schedule an appointment.
While in reply to a question about Omicron cases detected in Qatar, Dr. Al Khal said that all four individuals were returning from travel and in quarantine, while none of them needed hospital admission. “Omicron is expected to become the dominant strain around the world, as we have seen in United States, where three out of four infections are omicron variant,” he said.
Dr.Al Khal also advised the public, to wear a mask and maintain social distance in closed places, especially in coming days, as it is very effective in preventing the virus.
