Immuno-compromised and elderly people are eligible to receive an additional XBB.1.5-adapted COVID-19 vaccination in a new round starting next month, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
An estimated 800,000 people in the third priority group would be eligible, including for mix-and-match doses, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) told a routine news conference in Taipei.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices made the decision in response to the continued spread of COVID-19 and the expectation that the effectiveness of the XBB vaccine would wear off in three to five months, Lo said.
Photo: Taipei Times
People in the third priority group can be administered a booster 12 weeks following their previous shot, he said.
The priority group consists of people older than 65, indigenous people older than 55 and those older than six months with compromised immunity, he said.
People with compromised immunity include people who have undergone immunosuppression cancer therapy in the previous 12 months; recipients of organ or stem cell transplants; people with primary immunodeficiency diseases or human immunodeficiency viruses; those undergoing dialysis; people taking immunosuppressive drugs; those who have undergone chemo or radiation therapy in the previous six months; and those who have a medical diagnosis for compromised or reduced immunity for any other reason, he said.
People getting a second jab can use a vaccine different from the first dose they took, as Moderna and Novavax COVID-19 vaccines are compatible, Lo said.
More than 2 million people in Taiwan have been immunized with adapted XBB vaccines, he said, adding that the nation has 3.98 million doses of Moderna and 149,000 doses of Novavax vaccines remaining, sufficient for projected need.
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