No serious side effects reported from 70,000 booster shots administered in Qatar

COVID-19 Booster Vaccine Qatar

Health experts in Qatar have urged residents to take the booster dose of Covid-19 vaccine to get additional immunity against the pandemic.

"A total of 70,000 booster doses have been administered so far in Qatar without any serious side effects," said Dr Yousef al-Maslamani, medical director of Hamad General Hospital in an interview with Qatar TV.

“We have administered 70,000 doses of booster shots to people in the country. No one was admitted to hospital or died because of taking the COVID-19 booster shot,” he added.

“Some fully-vaccinated people were infected by the virus, but were not sick like those who were not vaccinated. Therefore we recommend people to take the third dose, so they develop additional antibodies,” he furthered..

Dr. al-maslamani dispelled rumours about the booster dose. "It was on the basis of scientific research that the booster or third dose got approved," The senior health official explained while clarifying that the immunity against Covid-19 begins to decrease after 6 months of the second dose.

The MoPH is the only reliable source of information about COVID-19 in the country, so the people should take any health-related information from it and not depend on rumours on social networking sites or other places,” said Dr. Al Maslamani. 

“Since the emergence of the pandemic, we have been transparent in providing accurate health information to people,” he said.

Regarding the impact of the third dose on travel and return policy, Dr al-Maslamani said: “We guarantee the society's protection by following precautionary measures such as masks and social distancing in addition to vaccination.”

"In order to maintain 90% of the society’s immunity, we do not want any Qatar resident to travel without the booster dose to countries experiencing the third or fourth waves of the pandemic,” he furthered.

Dr al-Maslamani explained that the protection after the second dose is for a full year and if a year hasn’t passed the privileges will remain. “We don’t prevent travelling, but rather motivate and encourage people to take the third dose,” he said.

The validity of the golden frame of Ehteraz, which indicates vaccination with two doses, shall disappear after 12 months of receiving the second dose, as it has been decided by the strategic committee of the Ministry of Public Health.

“Exactly 12 months from the date of taking the second dose, the golden frame of Ehteraz will disappear, which means that the person no longer has enough antibodies to protect himself or the community from the virus,” said Dr. Al Maslamani.

Read also: EHTERAZ app 'Golden Frame' will disappear after one year, says Qatar health official

Regarding the third or booster dose, Dr al-Maslamani said that the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccine can be taken even for those vaccinated with AstraZeneca.

“There are institutions that have discovered that mixing vaccines helps to increase immunity and there are countries that have done so without harm,” he explained.