Niedzielski: on Thursday, the decision on the fourth dose for people over 60 years of age

On Thursday, we will announce the decision on a second booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. We are after the meeting with the vaccinations team and the COVID-19 Council and the indications confirm that it is intended for the population over 60 – announced Minister of Health Adam Niedzielski.

1. The press conference of the Minister of Health was announced at 10 on Thursday, July 21
2. The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) have officially recommended a second booster dose of COVID-19 vaccines to people aged 60 to 79
3. Earlier, the Ministry of Health announced that the fourth dose would be available in Poland only in the fall, when the manufacturers create a preparation protecting against infection with the Omikron variant
4. You can find more up-to-date information on the TvoiLokony home page

The head of the Ministry of Health – when asked in Program III of Polish Radio what about the decision on the second booster dose of the vaccine for COVID-19 – confirmed that it will be announced on Thursday. «We’re already after meeting the Vaccination Team and the COVID-19 Council. In fact, the indications confirm what the EMA recently announced, i.e. that the fourth dose – that’s what I will call it because it is the second additional dose – is intended for the population over 60 years of age. We are also determining the distances between individual vaccinations. Until now, we had a solution that it was dedicated to people over 80, so this group of 60-79 will be able to take this fourth dose again »- he said.

He added that the registration for vaccinations will take place in the same way as before. «We are technically prepared for this, so everything will happen on Friday and next week. We will issue referrals, it will be possible to subscribe using all of these channels that are possible »- emphasized the Minister of Health.

Asked whether it is worth getting vaccinated with currently available preparations or it is better to wait for a new variant of the vaccine, Niedzielski replied that the current fourth dose will be recommended. At the same time, he admitted that the ministry considered this dilemma before making a decision on the recommendation. “If we were sure that by September we will have new vaccines in Poland, and this interval between vaccinations must be at least three months – at least in the standard version – then in this situation, of course, one might wonder whether or not to wait. But there are too many question marks, risks. Producers are already beginning to shyly say that September will be an approval, but there is a production process »- he pointed out.

The head of the Ministry of Health assured that “vaccinations are the strongest weapon in the fight against COVID-19”. «There is a lot of reason that the effectiveness of vaccination is decreasing. It falls primarily in this aspect of protection against infection. However, in terms of protection against heavy mileage, these parameters are still relatively high. In fact, from the beginning of the entire vaccination campaign, I emphasized that the most important parameter – when it comes to the quality of vaccination – is whether it protects us from infection, but whether it protects us from severe course ”- he said.

Niedzielski also informed that currently the monitoring and decision-making system related to the fight against the coronavirus is being redirected from the number of infections to the number of hospitalizations. «We have approx. 1,1 thousand hospitalization. Deaths are still single numbers and this is also characteristic because, as we can even see some increases in hospitalization, the number of patients who are under ventilators remains at a constant level of about 20 people in the country, so you can also see that there is a different structure of patients who go to hospitals, because this percentage of lung involvement by COVID-19 is definitely lower »- he explained.

As the head of the Ministry of Health summed up, COVID-19 is slowly being treated as one of the infectious diseases. “I am not speaking ordinary, I am not speaking safe only as an infectious disease like any other that is treated” – he explained.