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- South Africa just changed its vaccine schedules, reducing the time between Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine doses significantly.
- That will be good news if other countries start demanding to see proof of booster shots as an entry requirement – which they may or may not.
- It is particularly good news for anyone who has not received any vaccine shot yet, and wants to travel as vaccinated-and-boosted in under three months.
- Those partially vaccinated with Pfizer will have to wait 125 days to reach the same status – but at least that is down by 111 days.
- For more stories go to www.BusinessInsider.co.za.
South Africa on Sunday announced a new vaccine schedule that halves the time it will take travellers to be considered both fully vaccinated and boosted with the Pfizer vaccine against Covid-19 – though those who go with J&J instead still have the advantage.
The new schedule was published in a circular to provincial health departments and vaccine centres from department of health director general Sandile Buthelezi, notable for authorising a mix-and-match approach between the Pfizer and J&J vaccines.
As has been the case since Christmas, those who received an injection of the one-dose J&J or Janssen vaccine at least 60 days before are eligible for a booster dose under the updated schedule. However, they may now request to receive a shot of Pfizer instead of another J&J after those two months.
See also | From Wednesday you can mix the Pfizer and J&J vaccines on request – at least in theory
With the added 14-day wait used by the governments in most countries to which South Africans travel, that makes for 74 days from no vaccine to being considered fully boosted.
For recipients of the two-dose Pfizer vaccine, the same wait used to be 236 days: 42 days between doses one and two, 180 days until a booster could be requested, and the 14-day period for full effect applied by governments for purposes of border control.
That has now been slashed to 125 days; the minimum time between doses one and two of Pfizer is now 21 days, and booster eligibility starts at 90 days.
Various countries have set a 270-day expiration on Covid-19 vaccines, requiring anyone who last received their last jab more than nine months previously to show proof of a booster shot for purposes of entry. Those countries do not require a booster shot for those who were recently enough vaccinated – not yet. But as domestic definitions of “fully vaccinated” shift to include booster shots, border rules may follow.
At the same time, as various governments (including South Africa and major travel destinations such as the UK) move towards a domestic living-with-Covid-19 strategy, pressure is mounting on them to dismantle onerous travel rules.
(Compiled by Phillip de Wet)
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