The Department of Health (DoH) on Monday announced that individuals vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine can, from this week, receive a Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson (J&J) booster shot.

Those older than 18 years and who have received one dose of the Covid-19 J&J vaccine will, from February 21 be eligible to receive a booster dose of the same vaccine or a booster dose of Pfizer vaccine after an interval of two months or 60 days.

Those over the age of 18 and who have received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine will, from February 23, be eligible to receive a booster dose of the same vaccine or a booster dose of the J&J vaccine at least 90 days, or three months, after the second dose.

People who are fully vaccinated with two Pfizer jabs are now eligible for booster doses 90 days, or three months, after the second dose instead of the initially reported 180 days, or six months, interval.

The interval between first and second doses of Pfizer has also been reduced from 42 days to 21 days, effective from February 23.

The changes were made as part of ongoing efforts guided by scientific evidence to increase the uptake of Covid-19 vaccines in South Africa, the DoH said.

“The decision regarding which vaccine to administer as a booster should be guided by vaccine availability. Thus, if both vaccines are available at vaccination site, homologous boosting should be preferred, unless the vaccinee requests to receive a heterologous or different booster dose, or has a history of experiencing an adverse event following immunisation,” explained the DoH.

Meanwhile, Covid-19 vaccinations are now available as part of routine health services and may be co-administered with other vaccines.

The DoH said the co-administration of vaccines is essential to increase the immunisation coverage of all vaccines including influenza and human papillomavirus vaccines.

Furthermore, the 14-day interval between an individual receiving a Covid-19 vaccine and any other vaccination is no longer required.