AUC Continues Booster Shot Drive
By: Laila Ezz Elarab
@LailaElarab
AUC administration has been offering booster shots in collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) for current students, faculty, and staff who received their initial vaccination doses.
For months now, with the pandemic not subsiding, the global scientific community has been discussing boosters as a means to “boost” immunity against the coronavirus. They were introduced in Egypt in January, following in the footsteps of other countries around the world, to restore the efficacy of the first two vaccine doses which with time tend to lose their strength.
According to a report from the UK’s Health Security Agency, booster shots have shown up to 75 percent effectiveness against the latest coronavirus variants Omicron and Delta.
But not everyone can get a booster.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says that boosters are “administered to a vaccinated population that has completed a primary vaccination series (currently one or two doses of EUL COVID-19 vaccine depending on the product) when, with time, the immunity and clinical protection has fallen below a rate deemed sufficient in that population”.
Hassan Azzazy, the chair of AUC’s Scientific Advisory Committee, stresses that booster shots are important to be administered after the last dose of vaccination because its efficacy wanes after a five-month period.
“The booster is essential for the body to develop or produce neutralizing antibodies so that when this virus comes again, the entire immune system will be ready to take care of it,” Azzazy explained.
The AUC Clinic has been administering 200-250 booster shots on select days on a first-come-first-serve basis. It is estimated that more than 1,000 members of the AUC community have already received their boosters.
In previous email correspondence with the community the Vice-President of Management and Operations Shereen Shaker, said that students who were vaccinated outside campus can get in touch with the clinic and set an appointment.
In a similar email to the community, AUC’s Chief Health & Safety Officer Dr. Hussam Aldine Hassan writes that those who “have been vaccinated in Egypt, but have not yet received [their] booster dose … can receive the booster at the New Cairo campus clinic, provided at least six months have elapsed since the date of the second dose and you are registered on the MOHP system”.
Hassan also said that the Egyptian Ministry of Health determines the type of vaccine that will be available on the given date. Most community members who received the booster shots were given AstraZeneca and Pfizer.
Some students, however, remain skeptical about the booster shots because they believe not enough research was conducted to support any findings.
Hana El Morshedy, a Graphic Design junior, says every student is likely to have their personal belief about the safety of the vaccines and boosters.
“All students should just take the precaution of wearing a mask and social distancing,” she adds.
“I’ve always been against any vaccines, I believe our immunities are strong enough to protect the body. Even though some vaccines are necessary, let’s really look at the time each took to be developed. Technology is advancing and everything but science is science by experiments and not just data,” Hania Al-Saeed, Psychology major, told The Caravan.
Some speculate that since COVID-19 vaccines took less than ten years to develop, the side effects and effectiveness of the vaccine are undetermined in the long run.
The WHO, however, has developed a list of several safe and effective vaccines which it says prevent people from getting seriously ill or dying from COVID-19.
These include AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines, Johnson and Johnson Moderna, Pfizer/BionTech, Sinopharm, Sinovac, COVAXIN, Covovax, and Nuvaxovid
For further information, please email vaccination@aucegypt.edu.
