A fourth dose, or second booster, of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is now available in Cayman, according to Public Health.
In its recent weekly situational reports, the department has stated that the fourth dose, while mostly targeting the vulnerable over-70 population, is available to anyone 18 and over who requests it.
It can be administered to anyone who received their third dose, or booster, more than six months ago.
Public Health’s latest update on the COVID-19 situation in Cayman indicates that, as of 2 April, only one-third of the estimated population of 69,350 has taken a third dose of the vaccine, although more than 65% of those aged 70 and above have received it. The department’s data also shows that 41.3% of people aged over 20 had been given the first booster.
Almost 88% of the entire population has had a first dose of the vaccine, and 84.7% has had the second dose, the data indicates.
Since children under 5 cannot be given a COVID vaccine, these numbers mean that almost 94% of the eligible population has been given a first dose, and 90.7% has received a second dose.
Since the start of the pandemic, according to statistics released on Wednesday by Public Health, 21,406 people in Cayman have reported to authorities that they have tested positive for COVID-19, accounting for just over 30% of the population.
Vaccines are being administered at the COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic at 131 MacLendon Drive, next to DHL behind Foster’s Airport supermarket, as well as at community clinics in various districts on Grand Cayman and the Sister Islands.
The results of a recent study from Israel, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on 5 April, indicate that, compared with only a third vaccine dose received at least four months earlier, a fourth dose appears to provide early protection against COVID-19.
The study involved more than 1.25 million people over the age of 60, from eight days to six weeks after they received a fourth dose. It indicated that, at least in the short term, people who had gotten a fourth dose were 3.5 times less likely to suffer severe symptoms than those who had taken only a third dose.
The study’s authors noted that protection from severe illness due to COVID appears to wane six weeks after receipt of the fourth dose, and stated that more follow-up is needed in order to evaluate the protection of the fourth dose against severe illness over longer periods.
This study did not include individuals who had previously tested positive for COVID-19.
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“Fourth” this is now a joke. MOVE ON ALREADY