Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) has on Monday, August 8, started administering the fourth jab of the Covid-19 vaccine in the country. According to Julien Niyingabira, the Rwanda Health Communication Centre (RHCC) Division Manager, the move is aimed at boosting the immunity of the population, because it often wanes as time goes on, and thus needs to be enhanced. “The second booster (fourth jab) is something that some countries have started administering. We call it the second booster because we have been rolling out the first booster since March. With the vaccines that are available on the global stage, the immunity acquired from the primary jabs reduces as time goes on, and therefore there is need for taking another dose,” he noted. “When you get a booster, you kind of stimulate the immunity that you acquired earlier from the primary vaccinations,” he added. In this campaign, RBC is initially mainly targeting people at a higher risk of the virus, including the elderly (60 years and above), as well as those living with comorbidities like chronic diseases. However, the general adult population of the country is also welcome to take the jab. Niyingabira noted that the fourth jab is a way of trying to protect the country from sub-variants developing from the omicron variant which is the leading driver of waves in different countries. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), countries should consider a second booster dose to moderately and severely immunocompromised individuals aged 5 years and above and their close contacts. In addition to this, the second booster dose should also be offered to specific at-risk groups, including older adults, health-care workers and pregnant women. This is important “to provide additional protection, to minimize the risk of severe disease, hospitalization and death from Covid-19, and to maximize the resilience of health-care provision,” according to the WHO.
