COVID-19: Bhutan becomes first country in South Asia to administer booster doses

In a bid to ramp up the fight against coronavirus, Bhutan has started giving COVID-19 vaccine booster shots to its citizens, becoming the first South Asian country to do so. From December 24, Bhutan started administering the third dose to target groups, including "at-risk" adults and those aged 65 and older. Additionally, those eligible for the booster dose will also include health workers, those suffering from chronic ailments and adults living in and around COVID hotspots or travelling to another country. "As we did for the second dose, mix and match is recommended even for the booster dose given its higher efficacy," a Bhutan Health official told it's state media BBS broadcaster. Bhutan has planned to jab more than 2 lakh people in a week as the health department began its booster drive from December 24. Mass vaccination campaigns are also to be held in areas of high risk in all districts in Bhutan's capital Thimphu, where priority groups can avail booster shots adhering to safety protocols, Bhutan Health Minister Dechen Wangmo was quoted as saying to BBS broadcaster. “Now something worrying for us is the transmission given that its transmissibility is two to three-fold higher than the delta variant. For example, last time with the delta variant, you will remember that sometimes the parents would be infected but the children were not. Even in the Schools, some students were infected and some were not. But now with the Omicron variant, that will not be the case. Everyone will get infected. Now we are also observing more of the unvaccinated and younger children are getting hospitalized and seeing severity with the infection," Wangmo added, as reported by BBS. Bhutan becomes the first country in South Asia to begin COVID booster shots Bhutan has become the first country in South Asia to introduce COVID booster shots, BBS broadcaster said. It has now joined the other 36 countries, including Germany z Austria, Canada and France, which were among the first few to administering third jabs, Our World in Data reported. The US tops the list with at least 60 million booster shots given since it began rolling out the third dose. It is followed by the United Kingdom with 30.84 million and Germany, Brazil, and Russia completing 28.4 million, 23.78 million and 6.49 million simultaneously on December 23. It is pertinent to mention that Bhutan has not reported any cases of the vaccine-evasive Omicron variant, which was first reported from South Africa's Gauteng province. Owing to its stringent COVID-related protocols, the Himalayan country of 7,50,000 people has reported only 2,659 cases and 3 deaths since the pandemic began in early 2020. (Image: @LotayTshering/Facebook/AP)

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COVID-19: Bhutan becomes first country in South Asia to administer booster doses

From December 24, Bhutan started administering the third dose to target groups, including "at-risk" adults and those aged 65 and older. Read on

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