Guatemala's Booster Bingo

Remember when they told us that if you choose to mix the mRNA vaccines with Astra Zeneca you needed to have had the latter first. Keep remembering?

While some sort of mix and match strategy appears beneficial, especially because of the ‘compressed’ approach to spike protein antibodies in Pfizer and Moderna, it should never be mandatory, especially as we now know Moderna carries an albeit small elevated risk of heart inflammation.

Sputnik V, of course, has its own booster (Sputnik Light) and if anyone has the data on which other jabs combine well with it, Putin isn’t sharing. And Guatemala no longer appears to be buying.

It had been my working assumption that nobody in Guatemala either knew or cared that the Moderna booster dose is different from the first pair. This chart nevertheless suggests that in fact they have a team in a freezer compartment carefully pouring from vial to vial. 

Last time I checked Moderna was the formula Guatemala had the least of. Maybe a little can be made to go a long way.

Giving out a third dose to the few when the initial programme is incomplete seems a tad ruthless, n'est pas? 

The latest Omicron data from South Africa suggests that previous infection gives a high percentage protection from serious illness and death, especially when you are already dead.