#Chile to give fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose

Chile will offer its citizens a fourth coronavirus vaccine dose from February, starting with high-risk categories, President Sebastian Pinera has announced.

“The main concern and priority is to protect the lives and health of our compatriots,” he said Thursday at an event to mark a year since Chile launched its COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

First to get the booster shot will be health workers, old people and those with chronic diseases.

The country already has the doses required, said Pinera.

Health Minister Enrique Paris said the decision was taken as studies showed that virus-fighting antibody levels drop six months after the last dose.

Chile has to date administered at least two vaccine doses to some 16.5 million of its 19.2 million people—more than 86 percent.

The country has registered over 1.7 million coronavirus infections and 38,954 deaths, 54 in the last 24 hours.

Since the beginning of December, the vaccine campaign has expanded to include children from the age of three.

At least two other countries, Israel and Brazil, have announced campaigns to give a fourth shot to its immunocompromised population.

© 2021 AFP