Ukraine Introducing Booster Dose Against COVID-19 With Moderna Or Pfizer Vaccines For People Over 60 Years Old - Health Ministry

Ukraine introduces a booster dose against COVID-19 with Moderna or Pfizer vaccines for people over 60 years old six months after the second dose.

The Ministry of Health has said this in a statement, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

According to the report, for the booster dose, preference is given to m-RNA vaccines - Moderna or Comirnaty/Pfizer, according to the following schemes:

- the first two doses of Moderna or Pfizer + Moderna or Pfizer booster;

 - the first two doses of AstraZeneca (CoviShield, SKBio) + Moderna or Pfizer booster;

 - the first two doses of CoronaVac + Pfizer booster;

 - the first two doses in a mixed scheme + Moderna or Pfizer booster.

According to the report, in the absence of m-RNA vaccines, the booster dose can be given with a different vaccine according to the schemes permitted in Ukraine.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, an additional dose of the coronavirus vaccine does not extend the validity of the COVID certificate, but the booster dose increases it by 270 days.

At the end of December, Ukraine introduced a booster dose against COVID-19 with Moderna or Pfizer vaccines for doctors and employees of residential homes.

On January 3, the number of newly-registered Covid-19 cases in Ukraine rose by 1,746 over January 2 to 3,678,088, and the number of deaths increased by 135 over January 2 to 96,436; at the same time, the number of new cases decreased by 3.2%, and the number of new deaths increased by 18.4%.

According to the report, as of the morning of January 3, a total of 3,678,088laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 cases were registered in Ukraine; the number included 96,436 deaths; 3,483,354 had recovered.

On January 3, a total of 1,746 new disease cases were recorded, 135 people died, and 3,629 people recovered.

Therefore, as of January 3, the number of newly infected people was lower than that of those who recovered (1,746 vs 3,629).

At the same time, on January 3, a total of 970 coronavirus-infected people were hospitalized, down 17% over January 2.