Becoming The First Country In Latin America, Chile Will Provide The Fourth Dose Of COVID-19 Vaccine Starting Monday Next Week

Illustrated COVID-19 vaccinase from Chile. (Wikimedia Commons / Ciberprofe)

JAKARTA - Chile will start offering a fourth dose of its coronavirus vaccine next week to citizens with weakened immunity, the government said Thursday, becoming the first country in Latin America and one of the first in the world to offer an extra dose.

"Starting next Monday, January 10, we will start the process of a new mass vaccination with a fourth dose or a second booster dose," Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said at a press conference, citing Reuters on Friday, January 7.

Chile has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world and has been hailed as a model for its response to the pandemic, having administered two doses to more than 85 percent of its population. Meanwhile, about 57 percent of the population has received a third booster shot, according to Our World in Data.

Chile's announcement comes as the highly contagious variant of Omicron is spreading around the world, with several countries reporting all-time high COVID-19 caseloads, even among vaccinated populations.

To illustrate, cases of infection in Mexico have more than doubled in the past week, while Peru imposed new restrictions this week.

"Chile's success in the vaccination process places us among the best countries in the world in how we successfully fight this pandemic," said President Pinera.

"And with this fourth dose we seek to maintain this leadership position and protect the health and lives of our colleagues."

The vaccine for the fourth dose will be a combination of the same injections that have been used so far in Chile, including Pfizer-BioNTech, Sinovac and AstraZeneca, Health Minister Enrique Paris said.

"This different combination of vaccines between the first and fourth doses should allow for "enhancement of the immune response," explains Paris.

To note, Chile reported its first case of the Omicron variant in early December and has confirmed the 698 reported cases of this variant. Mostly related to people traveling abroad.