Congressman says government must explain reasons for third dose of anti-Covid vaccine

The physician and member of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen), Carlos Sanchez, declared today that the Government must explain better and from a scientific point of view why a third booster dose of the vaccines against the Coronavirus (Covid-19) is necessary and convenient.

Sanchez, who is also the director of the National Observatory of Covid-19 of the Alliance For Democracy (APD), said that everything indicates that a third “booster” dose against the deadly virus will be necessary “and that it is very likely that it will be using a different vaccine than the one applied to each patient.”

He pointed out that although the announcement made by the Vice President of the Republic, Raquel Peña, looked improvised and with a solid political charge, it is a correct decision to apply a third dose in the face of a disease that has emerged with new variants, some very aggressive, which continue to cause many contagions and deaths.

“Although no conclusive studies have been carried out to evaluate the safety and efficacy of mixing two vaccines such as Sinovac with Pfizer, from the immunological point of view it is correct to think that the combination of immunization strategies could generate a more comprehensive response against the virus,” he said in a video he sent to the media.

In his opinion, the increase in the immunological capacity of patients would occur because the Sinovac vaccine works with an inactivated virus methodology and the Pfizer vaccine with messenger RNA, “which have shown their efficacy separately to prevent the disease in its severe and mild form and provide different responses on the part of the immune system.”

“This would work as if the virus were attacked from two different positions, which may necessarily produce a more effective response against the disease,” he continued.

He also said that the application of a third dose organized and driven from the government before the population begins to seek it individually and on its own will always be better.

He reminded that the possible appearance of new variants of SARS-CoV-2, more aggressive than the previous ones, could even inactivate the existing vaccines so far, which, together with the shortage of the biologic, make the application of a third dose seem correct.

Dr. Carlos Sanchez insisted that the Health Cabinet in charge of controlling the pandemic should explain the issue from a scientific point of view and wait for the opportune moment to start, if required, the application of a new dose of the vaccine, “because it is one thing to apply a third dose to complete the initial immunization process and another thing to apply a third dose after six months or a year to maintain the immunity of the patients over time.”