Kuwait City: As a number of countries around the world are giving out a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, Kuwait is likely to begin administering a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine to at-risk groups by next month, a local newspaper reported.
A health official told the daily that those that will be receiving the booster shot are organ transplant patients, oncology patients and those with low or compromised immunity.
The decision comes as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Thursday that they have amended the emergency authorisation of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine so that high risk individuals can get a booster shot of the vaccine. It also comes as the highly transmissible delta variant is spreading rapidly and creating a surge in COVID-19 cases.
On the other hand, last week the World Health Organisation (WHO) urged countries to hold back on giving out booster shots at least until the end of September, as lower-income countries struggle and are experiencing shortages.
So far, Kuwait has administered the Pfizer vaccine, but the Ministry of Health has placed an order to receive two million doses of the Moderna vaccine. In addition, Kuwait has authorised emergency use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccine, with the latter still not being administered as the shipment is yet to arrive.
