Bhutan will roll out booster doses to the priority groups beginning tomorrow. With this, Bhutan becomes the first country in the South Asian region to administer booster doses. The priority groups include residents above the age of 18 in the high-risk areas, elderly above 65 years across the country, persons with chronic medical conditions, all health workers, and all outbound travellers above the age 18. Mass vaccination campaigns will be held in the high-risk areas while the priority groups can avail booster doses from the health facilities in other districts and flu clinics in Thimphu. Health Minister Dechen Wangmo said people should continue adhering to safety protocols given the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant.
“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.”
Kinzang Lhadon
