Know when to get your booster dose if you have COVID-19

Venezuela has registered its highest number of new cases of COVID-19 at the beginning of 2022, in parallel to the beginning of the campaign of booster vaccination. In the middle of the wave generated by the omicron variant, mMany people already vaccinated with two doses contracted COVID-19 before they could receive their third dose. But how long should they wait to get vaccinated again?

The answer to that question may vary from country to country. In the case of Venezuela, the main requirement to be able to receive the booster dose, in addition to being older than 18 years, is to have fulfilled six months from the application of the second dose (the last dose of the basic scheme of the vaccine against COVID-19).

The country, which implements booster vaccination since the past January 3, does not have clear guidelines from the health authorities regarding the waiting time between infection and vaccination. But nevertheless, Alexis Garcia Pinero, an immunologist at the Institute of Immunology of the Central University of Venezuela (IDI-UCV), recommends that people who had COVID-19 when the booster was due wait at least 21 days to be vaccinated.

“People need to fully recover, feel good, and can be vaccinated three to four weeks after recovery“, said to Cocuyo effect.

In short, his advice is that anyone over 18 years of age who wants to get vaccinated with the booster should wait six months from receiving the second dose and, if they were infected with COVID-19, recover and wait three weeks.

What do you recommend in other countries?

Spain It has a similar approach to that expressed by García. In that country, people who can receive the booster dose must wait at least 4 weeks if they are diagnosed with COVID-19.

According to guides of the vaccination strategy against COVID-19 in Spain, people will be able to be vaccinated with the booster “when they are fully recovered and the isolation period has ended and from 4 weeks after diagnosis of infection«.

At the regional level, in Argentina they recommend waiting 90 days once the disease is over. This is how he explains it Ministry of Health of that country: «In the case of the booster dose, to optimize the immune response in people with a COVID-19 diagnosis, it is recommended to defer it for at least 90 days once the discharge criteria have been met, if at least 4 months have elapsed since the application of the initial scheme. .

In Colombia, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection advises to wait at least 30 days since the onset of symptoms or since the person tested positive in the diagnostic test.

In U.S, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) point out that people with active COVID-19 should postpone booster vaccination for at least until they have recovered from the acute illness (if they had symptoms), and until they meet the criteria for release from isolation. That same recommendation applies to people who have not yet received the first dose.

The CDC also urges people who have recently had contact with a case of COVID-19 not to go to the vaccination center until they finish the quarantine.

What vaccine to get as a booster?

Venezuela has available a dose of Sputnik Light (first dose of Sputnik V) or a dose of Sinopharm as reinforcement. It also allows the application of a fourth dose of Abdala to those who received the first three doses of Abdala, still considered a vaccine candidate by Venezuelan medical societies.

Although the country allows combining the doses for the booster, according to alexis garcia, who was also the principal investigator for the Sputnik V clinical trials in the country, the logical scenario is that the person receives the booster of the same vaccine that was applied initially: for example, if it received Sinopharm, reinforce it with Sinopharm, and if it received Sputnik, fill it with Sputnik.

In the country, the Ministry of Health reported that people vaccinated with Sputnik V can be boosted with a dose of Sinopharm or Sputnik Light (dose 1 of Sputnik V, bottle with blue lines). Those vaccinated with either Sinopharm or Sinovac can get one dose of Sinopharm, Sputnik or Abdala, while those who received three doses of Abdala can get one dose of Sinopharm, Sputnik or Abdala.

The future

The US CDC notes that after getting vaccinated against COVID-19, protection against the virus may be reduced over time and due to changes in variants.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has highlighted that the effectiveness of vaccines against contagion and symptomatic disease decreases six months after completion of the primary regimen. In the short term, a booster dose (booster) can help partially restore vaccine effectiveness while tailored vaccines are developed for the variants of greatest concern.

According to the latest update of the Roadmap According to the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (Sage) of the WHO, the people at greatest risk and who should be prioritized to receive the booster dose are adults over 60 years of age, health workers and immunocompromised people (people with active cancer or HIV, transplant recipients and people receiving treatment with immunosuppressants).

The recommended order of application of the booster doses is the same as that of the primary vaccination series: advance to include the groups of lower priority.

The Technical Advisory Group on the Composition of Vaccines against COVID-19 of the WHO also stressed in January that it is analyzing the scientific data on the variants so that, when the time comes, they are advised. updated formulas of the composition of the vaccines already available.

The purpose of updating the vaccines, in addition to reducing the risk of death and serious forms of disease, is to protect more effectively against infection against omicron and other future variants, with the aim of decrease community transmission and the need for stringent public health and social measures, as well as eliciting a vigorous and long-lasting immune response to reduce the need for successive booster doses.

In Venezuela, Alexis García agrees with this approach. The immunologist believes that, regardless of whether people have overcome a previous infection, the booster dose can contribute to amplifying the immune response, which encompasses more than just the production of antibodies, while the world updates vaccines.

“In my opinion as an immunologist, I think that what we are going to have to do as a strategy from the point of view of vaccination is to have new generation vaccines that in their formulation can respond to the variants that are circulating the most, such as omicron and delta” , he expressed.

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