The Peruvian Government has authorized, as of May 6,
"Both of them are safe and of high quality," she pointed out.
People who attend vaccination centers in search of the fourth dose must have allowed five months to pass after the administration of the third dose; otherwise, it will not proceed.
"It must have been five months; this information is based on scientific research," she indicated.
The Minsa official explained that all those who received the third dose last December must go for the fourth dose in the following days.
"We are projecting that there are an average of 1.2 million people who should be administered the fourth dose," she said.
As is known, the administration of a fourth dose was only allowed to citizens over 70 years of age, health personnel, and immunosuppressed people; however, it was necessary to expand this group.
The official reminded citizens that Peru is carrying out one of the most extensive vaccination processes in South America, ranking third in the region, after Argentina and Chile, in terms of the percentage of the population protected against the coronavirus.
Therefore, Martinez called on the population to continue attending vaccination centers and health establishments to be protected against COVID-19 and face the pandemic.
"We work for the health of the country. The vaccination process must go on (...)," she said.
For her part, infectious disease specialist at the National Health Institute (INS), Lely Solari, stressed the need to receive a fourth dose to be protected against a possible fourth wave, taking into account the appearance of sublineages of COVID-19's Omicron variant —after verifying that the effectiveness decreases following six months of administration.
Solari reported that the approved amount applied in the fourth dose is 50 micrograms, which is equivalent to 0.25 milliliters.
She reiterated that vulnerable people also receive this fourth dose, regardless of their age —even if they are under 50 years of age.
Doses applied
Out of that total, 27,086,574 were given as second dose, thus accounting for 82.6% of the target population.
Within this framework, 16,683,218 citizens have been vaccinated with a third dose.
They also account for 58.4% of the general population, the leading government authority in the health sector said in its daily report.
Similarly, 388,640 people have received the fourth dose.
The information above is applicable as of May 12 at 6:14 p.m. (local time) and was published on the COVID-19 Vaccination Situation Room.