The third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine has been speculated about for a long time. The Serbian Expert Committee for Immunization recommended yesterday that people in Serbia should receive a third dose of the vaccine that it should be an mRNA vaccine preferably, such as Pfizer’s or Moderna’s, which is due to arrive in Serbia in October.
A handful of studies have shown that the third dose (or so-called booster dose) leads to an increase in the humoral immune response, hence the Expert Committee for Immunization has recommended the third dose providing six months have passed since the second dose and regardless of what type of vaccine was previously administered.
The Committee also recommended that the following members of the public should receive the third dose – persons with immunodeficiencies and immunosuppressive conditions, recipients of bone marrow and solid organ transplants and persons on hemodialysis, people over 70 years of age, people over 60 years of age who permanently reside in old people’s homes and other welfare institutions and employees in health and social care institutions, as well as persons living with primary or secondary immunosuppression.
After this recommendation was made public, the citizens wondered if they would have to receive the Pfizer vaccine, even though, in the past, they had the right to choose which vaccine to get. Some people objected and see the recommendation as forcing a particular type of vaccine on them.
The Government of Serbia then cleared the confusion and said people would be able to choose which vaccine to receive as a booster dose and that they will have access to all four vaccines currently available in our country – Pfizer, Sinofarm, AstraZeneca and Sputnik.
(Blic, 25.07.2021)
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