KUWAIT CITY, Aug 14: Kuwait will start administering the booster shot – third dose of Pfizer vaccine against the coronavirus – for certain groups in September, reports Al-Rai daily. the target groups for the booster shot include the elderly, some organ transplant patients, individuals with weak immunity, cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and individuals at high risk of getting infected with corona. Sources confirmed that the target groups will receive Pfizer as booster shot whether they got two does of Pfizer or Oxford earlier. Sources added the Moderna vaccine is expected to arrive in October, indicating Pfizer and Moderna use the same technology -- messenger RNA or mRNA -- in sending a message to one’s immune system with instructions on how to combat the virus.

Sources explained the decision to administer the third dose is based on recent studies that showed immune response decline in some groups, specifically the elderly and individuals with weak immune systems. The number of people who received the vaccination against COVID-19 through one or two jabs amounted to 2,668,082 people, the Health Ministry’s Spokesman Dr. Abdullah Al-Sanad announced that, as of Saturday. In a statement to KUNA, Dr. Al-Sanad confirmed that the national campaign to vaccinate people would continue and it reaches its goal. The percentage of the ones vaccinated represents 68.4 percent of Kuwait, he explained. He valued the efforts of all medical, supportive volunteer teams and various state agencies that participated in the campaign, pointing out that the ongoing efforts of the campaign was reflected in the noticeable improvement in the indicators of assessing the epidemiological situation in the country.