Booster essential as immunity wanes amidst increased community infection

Waning immunity levels amidst escalating community infection in Fiji’s two main islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu have prompted authorities to extend its advice for people needing booster shots to all individuals aged 18 and above who were fully vaccinated earlier in the program.

In their latest advisory, the Ministry of Health says booster doses is also essential for those aged 18 and above who have been fully vaccinated for more than five months – in addition to the priority group comprising frontliners, the vulnerable including the elderly.

“All individuals aged 18 years and above are eligible to receive the COVID-19 booster dose. An individual can receive the COVID-19 booster dose if he/she has received their initial two doses of the COVID-19 vaccines at least 5 months ago.”

Ministry of Health

“The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine has been authorised for use as the booster dose by stringent regulatory authorities with over 30 countries (US, UK, Israel, Singapore, and France) administering the dose.”

Individuals who are not able to go to a vaccination site for the booster dose are advised to contact toll-free line 158 to register for home vaccination.

The ministry’s advice comes on the back of increased COVID positive tests among hospital admissions presented to health facilities on Viti Levu for reasons other than COVID, and increased community transmission on Vanua Levu underlined by recent case numbers, both of which authorities expect to escalate over the ensuing weeks.

“We are working on the assumption that the Omicron variant is already in Fiji and is being transmitted within the community. We expect that genomic sequencing results of positive samples sent overseas will bear this out,” Permanent Secretary for Health Dr James Fong said.

Pending the outcome of the genomic sequencing, the country’s positivity rate has increased five folds within a week – from 2.8 per cent as per MOH’s 20 December update to 19 per cent on 27 December during which 372 new cases were recorded, averaging a little over 53 cases daily.

Vaccination Sites for Booster Shots