THE BOOSTER VACCINE: MORE OPTIONS

22 February 2022: THERE ARE NOW MORE OPTIONS WHEN IT COMES TO THE BOOSTER VACCINE AND INTERVALS TIMES HAVE BEEN REDUCED

The National Department of Health has announced that from Wednesday, 23 February 2022, the interval between the first and second doses of the Pfizer vaccine will be reduced from 42 days to 21 days.

This is good news for the vaccination programme as it means more people can now complete their primary schedule of Pfizer doses earlier, resulting in them being sufficiently protected against severe disease. 

In addition to the interval change of the Pfizer doses, the interval period for booster doses for the Pfizer vaccine has also been reduced.

Booster dose interval periods, and mix-and-match option

From today, Monday 21 February, if you had the J&J dose as a primary dose,  you can now choose between the Pfizer or J&J booster dose from 60 days after getting your first J&J vaccine.

Similarly, from Wednesday 23 February, if you have had two Pfizer doses you can now choose either the Pfizer or J&J booster dose from 90 days after getting your second Pfizer dose.

The decision as to which vaccine to administer as a booster will be guided by vaccine availability at vaccination sites. If both vaccines are available, the original (primary) boosting vaccine should be preferred, unless the vaccinee requests to receive the alternative booster vaccine.

View our weekly vaccination schedules to see which vaccination sites offer which vaccine or both.