Vaccinated with one J&J jab? You can now get two Covid-19 vaccine boosters

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From Monday, people who have been vaccinated with one shot of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine can get two Covid-19 vaccine boosters.

The department of health announced changes at the weekend. 

According to a circular from the department, from March 14 everyone who was vaccinated with one shot of J&J can get two boosters.

The first booster can be administered 60 days after the first J&J shot and the second 90 days after the first booster.

Since mixing-and-matching of vaccines is allowed, people can boost their one J&J jab with two doses of Pfizer. This would mean you are effectively fully vaccinated with both J&J and Pfizer.

“Both the first and second booster doses may be homologous or heterologous,” said the department.

It comes after the health department made changes to the vaccination campaign, shortening the waiting time for second doses and booster shots.

People fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine, meaning they have received both doses, are eligible for a booster of the same vaccine or a booster dose of the J&J vaccine shot 90 days after the second dose instead of 180 days.

Those older than 18 who have received one dose of J&J vaccine are eligible to receive a booster dose of the same vaccine or a Pfizer booster after two months.

“This is called a heterologous booster dose, meaning booster doses of a different vaccine to that administered as the primary dose,” said the department.

“The decision regarding which vaccine to administer as a booster should be guided by vaccine availability.

"If both vaccines are available, homologous boosting should be preferred, unless the patient requests to receive a heterologous booster dose, or has a history of experiencing an adverse event after immunisation.”

Last week health minister Joe Phaahla said government was aiming for a 70% vaccination target, which would allow it to further ease restrictions.

At the start of the vaccine rollout, government set a target to jab 40-million people, or 67% of the population, to reach the point where enough people are immune to the coronavirus to prevent it spreading unchecked.

Phaahla said the number of fully vaccinated people stands at about 17-million, or about 43%.

He said 47.95% of adults had received at least one jab, with 56.5% coverage for women and 43.5% for men.

“If we reach 70% coverage, this will make us able to open up a lot more activities and reduce the need for a lot of the health measures.

“The biggest drawback is the young population between 18 and 34 years of age. We need at least five million more of this age group vaccinated,” said Phaahla.