Vaccination against coronavirus – authorities recommend further boosters only for immunocompromised people – news

• The Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) and the Commission for Vaccination Questions (Ekif) have adjusted the vaccination recommendation for people with a severely weakened immune system.
• A further booster vaccination with an mRNA vaccine is recommended for them, according to a media release.
• This if it is promising according to the evaluation of the treating doctor.
• All other people over the age of 12 do not currently need any further booster vaccinations; a booster vaccination after the basic immunization is currently sufficient.

Another booster for certain groups of people According to the announcement, patients with a severely weakened immune system still have a high risk of developing serious illnesses from Covid-19.

You could not build up good immune protection despite repeated vaccination against SARS-CoV-2. As the BAG goes on to write, the drug tixagevimab/cilgavimab (Evusheld®) has recently become available for people with a severely weakened immune system who do not respond adequately to vaccination.

The antibody combination for passive immunization is administered preventively. According to the data, it provides good protection against Covid 19 disease for at least six months. The Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products, Swissmedic, has not yet approved tixagevimab/cilgavimab (Evusheld®). According to the BAG, the medicinal product may only be administered on the prescription of a doctor and is only indicated for certain risk groups.

Enough vaccine for all scenarios

The BAG and the EKIF want to provide information about their vaccination recommendations for autumn and winter 2022/23 at the latest before the summer holidays. There is a spectrum of possible scenarios for autumn.

This ranges from a further booster shot for people who are particularly at risk, i.e. people over 65 and people suffering from certain chronic diseases, to a possible booster shot for the general population. According to the media release, there is sufficient vaccine in Switzerland for all scenarios.