King Letsie III, PM and MPs receive Covid-19 booster shots
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…as winter flu season approaches
By ‘Mamokete Makōkō
His Majesty, King Letsie III, Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro and several legislators received their Covid-19 booster shots at Scott Hospital in Morija, in the district of Maseru on Monday this week.
A Covid-19 booster shot is an extra dose given to a person who has had their initial vaccine dose, sometimes referred to as a primary dose or sometimes called a primary series dose of covid-19.
A nurse at Scott Hospital, ’Mantoi Makhabane explained that the covid-19 vaccination booster dose helps the immune system “boost” the protection it provides and that every person who has had their primary series should get the vaccine booster shot.
She added that this booster shot is given to a person after six months of vaccination, and the side effects are like any other Covid-19 vaccine and include headaches, fever, fatigue, muscle pains, and chills.
“All these side effects usually take 2 to 3 days after a person has vaccinated and it’s very unfortunate that our immune systems accept medication differently, so if one does not feel okay after vaccinating, they should go to see a doctor immediately,” said Makhabane.
The National COVID-19 Secretariat (NACOSEC) Chief of Staff, Thabo Ntoi said a person who is vaccinated using Johnson and Johnson vaccine which is a one intake vaccine and a person who is vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine which is taken two times after 6 months, “all have to boost after 6 months”.
“It is very important that every person vaccinates because our mission as a country is to make sure that there are no lockdowns in Lesotho anymore,” said Ntoi.
Ntoi also stated that the importance of a booster shot is to extend the protection of the immune system against the virus even against the delta and omicron variants.
Ministry of Health, Director General Dr Nyane Letsie said that it is at least 1.6 million Basotho over the ages of 12 years that they are aiming should be injected with the booster shot.
She also said 90 percent of Basotho living in South Africa have been vaccinated when they were home for the Christmas holidays and that the country has enough vaccines open for every Mosotho to get vaccinated and to get their Booster Vaccines.
