Bahrain offers ‘fourth’ COVID-19 vaccine dose

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain is to offer a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose to people who have received three doses of Sinopharm jabs in a bid to outpace the spread of the new Omicron variant that is taking over the world at a previously unseen speed.

The fourth dose in the Kingdom is available to those above 18 years and three months after receiving the first booster dose of Sinopharm.

Pfizer-BioNTech or Sinopharm jabs are available as the second booster dose. Bahrain’s move also comes soon after Israel announced the fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine to people older than 60 or with a compromised immune system.

The National Medical Taskforce for combating the COVID-19 pandemic has approved the new fourth dose decision.

Taskforce members said the fourth dose is for those who received their first and second Sinopharm jabs and a Sinopharm booster dose.

What next?

All those eligible to receive the fourth dose, or second booster dose, should go directly to a health centre without delay, the National Medical Taskforce members said.

No prior appointment is necessary to receive the fourth dose.

Health centres will be open from 07:30 to 17:00, with vaccination availability varying between health centres.

The Taskforce members said they are updating the vaccination protocols in light of the steps taken by Bahrain to address the Coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation had warned that the pandemic might mean cancelling in-person events over the holiday period, adding that “an event cancelled is better than a life cancelled.”

First identified last month in southern Africa and Hong Kong, the variant is soon becoming dominant in much of Europe, including Britain, where daily new infections have soared beyond 100,000.