The South African health ministry said the government will start offering booster shots of Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine from Friday, reported Reuters.
Booster doses are the same vaccine in the same dose administered to people who have had a primary vaccination series and given to allow the body to boost its immunity to the Covid-19 virus.
The announcement comes just a day after the country’s health regulator approved the vaccine for use as a booster for protection against the Omicron variant.
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has authorized the use of both J&J and Pfizer COVID-19 shots as booster vaccine shots, but the move opens up boosters to the general public for the first time. So far, only J&J booster shots have been available for health workers.
“From 24th December 2021 the National Vaccination Programme will provide J&J booster vaccinations to anyone who received their last dose at least 2 months prior,” the statement said.
It added that ideally, it should also be within six months after primary vaccination.
Pfizer booster shots were previously set to become available in the country in early January. But the South African health ministry said the booster shots would now be offered from Dec. 28 for people who had received their second vaccine dose at least six months ago.
In related news, the South African health ministry on Friday announced contacts of positive COVID cases that they will no longer need to test or self-isolate if they’re not showing symptoms.
The ministry said people who develop mild symptoms need to isolate for eight days, while those with severe symptoms should do so for 10 days. Furthermore, the government said it would also end quarantine in facilities outside the home and scrap contact tracing efforts, except for in cases of cluster outbreaks.
