Covid-19 |Authorities studying vaccine extra doses, roll-out by target groups

Health authorities confirmed yesterday that they are working on a plan to distribute extra doses of Covid-19 vaccines to specific groups of people in the near future, Dr. Tai Wah Hou, Coordinator of the Vaccination program of the Health Bureau (SSM) said during the Covid-19 press briefing.

Questioned on the topic by the media, Tai said, “We are studying [our options]. Many countries already providing [a third dose]. We have a plan but we still need to define how to do it,” Tai said.

He added, “After we have completed rolling-out the two doses, we can aim to target certain groups for the third dose. This will prioritize people who are immuno-compromised or those working in high-risk professional occupations. This will be done gradually and we will continually evaluate and consider who should be in the priority groups to receive a third dose of the vaccines.”

The medical doctor said he was happy that several age groups in Macau had achieved high vaccination rates (around 80% and over). However, he noted that there were still groups – in particular with senior citizens – where the vaccination rate was still too low to establish a sufficient level of immunity.

Tai also noted that other measures such as the lifting of border restrictions can only be considered if “it is proven that after vaccination, those infected with the virus, in 90% of the cases, have only light symptoms of the disease. This also means that we can ensure that there will be no overload on the local healthcare system.”

Until yesterday afternoon, the general vaccination rate of the population of Macau stood at approximately 66.5% according to figures cited by the SSM.