KRALENDIJK – From October 15, 2022, the new corona repeat injection will be available for even better protection against the omikron variant. According to the Department of Public Health, experts expect a new wave of corona in the autumn when large numbers of visitors come to the island.

The repeat injection should reduce the chance of infection and reduce the chance that people will still have complaints long after an infection. This is also called lung covid.

Public health makes the elderly especially vulnerable. “The protection offered by the corona jab decreases more quickly with them than with younger people. If the elderly become infected, they are more likely to become seriously ill and end up in hospital. The Public Health department advises friends and family of the elderly to get the new corona vaccine. In this way they protect the elderly in their environment,” said the doctors responsible for the new campaign.

The doctors also emphasize that when there are many infections, fewer people go to work. This can have consequences for companies, the catering industry, gyms. The pressure on care can also increase, causing the hospital to become full and extra measures are needed. To prevent this, it is important that vulnerable people such as people with severe obesity, diabetes or high blood pressure e.g. take the repeat shot. And also that healthy people take the repeat shot to protect themselves and others. Knowledge about the coronavirus has changed over time. Experts have been assuming for some time that the virus will remain in our midst for a long time. For good protection against the corona virus, it is necessary to repeat the vaccination against corona. Hence the name ‘repeat shot’.

The autumn campaign vaccine, also called the repeat shot, to distinguish it (also chemically) from the booster shot, consists partly of the old vaccine and partly of a newly designed vaccine based on the Omikron variant. When the old vaccine was developed in mid to late 2020, Omikron did not yet exist, there were other variants. The old vaccine came on the market at the end of 2020. The Omikron variant only came into the picture Q3-Q4 2021 in South Africa and was detected here for the first time in early December. Now the Omikron variant is dominant and the second part of the new vaccine is specifically aimed at this. But the name ‘repeat shot’ also makes it clear that people can get the repeat shot, just like the flu shot, more often. Pfizer’s repeat shot is used on Bonaire.

The repeat shot is for citizens aged 12 and older who have previously had two corona shots. People over eighty get the repeat shot first. They can get the repeat shot on Saturday 15 October at the SGB in Playa. Then it is the turn of the other age groups.

No appointment

Citizens do not have to make an appointment for the repeat injection. They must, however, be tested in the week when it is their age group’s turn. The Public Health department will announce when it will be the turn of which groups via www.bonairegov.com and the media. From now on, Kompleho Deportivo Jorge Nicolas will no longer be poked in Playa.

Also, people are no longer pinned in separate rooms. Just like on Aruba and Curaçao, Public Health will be poking groups of people in one room at the same time. People who want to can get the shot in a separate room.