22nd Apr 2022
1. The Expert Committee on COVID-19 Vaccination (EC19V) recommends that persons aged 12 years and above who have completed their primary vaccination series and recovered from COVID-19 infection should receive a COVID-19 booster vaccine dose. The booster dose may be received from about 28 days after the infection, and should not be delayed beyond nine months after completing their primary vaccine course.
2. There has been recent evidence that immune protection in recovered persons who are vaccinated can vary between individuals and wanes with time. Booster vaccination is safe in recovered persons and helps maintain a high level of protection against severe disease. Hence, persons aged 12 years and above, who had previously completed their primary vaccination series and recovered from a COVID-19 infection, are now recommended to receive a COVID-19 booster.
3. With this new recommendation, a booster dose is now being recommended for all persons aged 12 years and above, regardless of whether they had a previous COVID-19 infection.
Second Booster Can Be Offered to Persons Aged 60-79 Years
4. To provide additional protection against severe COVID-19, a second COVID-19 booster has been recommended for the following groups of persons, who are most at-risk for severe disease and the waning of vaccine effectiveness:
a. All persons aged 80 years and above;
b. Persons living in aged care facilities, such as nursing homes; and
c. Medically vulnerable persons who are at increased risk of severe disease due to significant medical risk factors1.
5. A proportion of our seniors aged 60 to 79 years may have underlying medical conditions, and may themselves be concerned about their increased risk of severe disease. Considering this, a second booster can also be offered to persons aged 60 to 79 years who wish to be vaccinated.
6. EC19V encourages all eligible persons recommended to receive booster vaccination(s) to do so with an mRNA vaccine (i.e., Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty or Moderna/Spikevax vaccines) because of better vaccine effectiveness.
EXPERT COMMITTEE ON COVID-19 VACCINATION
22 APRIL 2022
[1] Vulnerable persons are individuals who are at increased risk of severe disease due to significant medical risk factors. These include persons with chronic diseases of the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver and other organ systems.