The government has announced the arrival of the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5-targetting vaccine, available for citizens. It comes as the Principality continues to see a slow rise in circulation.
As the Prince’s Government had revealed last week, new booster shots had been ordered ahead of an expected autumn-surge. This booster vaccine, an mRNA Pfizer-BioNTech product, specifically targets the dominant Covid variant in circulation, Omicron BA.4 and BA.5.
The shot is now available to any citizen in Monaco who has already completed a full vaccination regime, or has had Covid and a vaccination.
The government is encouraging the most vulernable members of the community to take advantage of the free booster shot, namely people aged over 60, pregnant women, and those with immune deficiencies or comorbidities.
Residents aged 12 and under are inelligable for the vaccine at this stage.
The booster arrival comes as the government’s weekly coronavirus communication reveals that 92 new cases of the virus were detected in the Principality in the week ending Sunday 9th October.
1,161 PCR and antigen tests were conducted on residents and non-residents, with 14.5% coming back positive.
That is an increase on last week’s positivity rate of 10.2%.
The incidence rate has also jumped from 197 to 235. For now, it is still below the incidence rate of 390 in the neighbouring Alpes-Maritimes department, and well below the French incidence rate of 566.
Among the eight Covid-positive patients being treated at the CHPG, three are residents of Monaco. Currently no-one is in intensive care, while 37 people with mild symtops are being watched by the Home Monitoring Centre.