Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center is calling for people to get third doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to strengthen one’s immunity after the outbreak of the Omicron variant around the world. But what are doctors’ recommendations for getting the third dose?
When should you get a third COVID-19 vaccine? The government has shortened the time between the second and third dose from 20 to 12 weeks. But which combination of vaccines is recommended for a third dose?
Doctors say those who received AstraZeneca as their first two doses must choose other brands for their third dose. If the first two doses have been Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, or a combination of AstraZeneca with an mRNA vaccine, then half a dose of Moderna or a full dose of BioNTech will be recommended for your third jab.
Studies have shown that a third dose of BioNTech will increase protection by 25 fold while a third dose of Moderna will strengthen immunity 37 times.
However a third dose of AstraZeneca is not recommended if the first two doses were AstraZeneca.
Meanwhile, one more country - Thailand - has given approval to Taiwan’s COVID-19 Medigen vaccine. That brings the total number of countries that recognize Medigen to five, including New Zealand, Palau, Indonesia and Belize.