MOH announces target groups for Covid booster vaccine

The Ministry of Health started giving the booster dose or the third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to the target groups, starting from Sunday.

The target groups with the booster dose for those who have completed eight months from the date of receiving the last dose and include:

1- Older people 65 years and over

2- Health care and frontline workers aged 50 years and over.

3- Patients with chronic diseases from the age of 18 years and above, especially if they are not well controlled, including:

• Patients with chronic lung disease.

• Patients with kidney disease, including those who are undergoing dialysis.

• Diabetes with glycated hemoglobin (hbA1c) above 7.6%.

• Blood pressure.

• Genetic blood diseases.

• Liver diseases.

• Obesity with a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 30 kg/m2.

The target groups for the third dose for those who have completed three months from the date of receiving the last dose are:

1- Immunocompromised patients aged 12 years and over

It includes:

• Patients undergoing cancer treatment, and patients who have undergone bone marrow or organ transplants.

• Immunodeficiency diseases, and people living with HIV

• Patients receiving immunosuppressive or biologic agents

The ministry indicated that the date for giving the dose is determined according to the instructions of the treating doctor in order to be in line with the patient’s health condition and not conflict with his other medications.

Recently, the Supreme Committee approved giving the third dose of the vaccine to enhance the level of protection for groups most at risk of the Covid disease. The committee also agreed to vaccinate children from the age of 5 to 12, starting from the first week of November 2021.