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Poland to launch 2nd COVID-19 booster for medical staff next week: health minister

12.08.2022 19:30
Poland’s health minister has announced that the government will roll out a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose for medical workers on August 17.
Polands Health Minister Adam Niedzielski meets with reporters in Warsaw on Friday, August 12, 2022.
Poland's Health Minister Adam Niedzielski meets with reporters in Warsaw on Friday, August 12, 2022.PAP/Paweł Supernak

Adam Niedzielski made the announcement at a news conference on Friday, Polish state news agency PAP reported. 

He noted that so far the second booster shot had been available to the over 60s and people with impaired immunity.  

Niedzielski said: “After consulting the medical community, from doctors to nurses and chemists … we have decided to authorise a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose for medical personnel: staff at medical institutions, medical students and pharmacists.”

He added that the second booster would be first offered to “those who look after COVID-19 patients.”

According to the health minister, medical staff eligible for the fourth vaccine dose totals some 400,000 people, each of whom will receive an e-referral early next Wednesday. 

COVID-19 cases starting to fall

Niedzielski told reporters that the number of infections "had been growing very dynamically” for the past two months.

Meanwhile, “during the last two days, the number of COVID-19 cases has fallen compared with the corresponding days of the previous week,” he said.

He added that "hospitalisations will reach a weekly average of 3,500-4,000 this or next week, and around 4,000 in the latter half of August.”

Niedzielski announced that the omicron variant was responsible for almost 100 percent of Poland’s COVID-19 infections, the PAP news agency reported.  

Earlier this month, the health minister said that the government would probably authorise a second COVID-19 booster shot for all adults in September.

In May, Poland downgraded its classification of the COVID-19 pandemic, lifting "a state of epidemic" and announcing "a state of epidemic threat" instead.

(pm/gs)

Source: PAP, wp.pl