Booster shot now available at CPS

~ Say Yes to the Booster shot ~

The Vaccination Management Team (VMT) of St. Maarten announces the roll out of the booster shot of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The booster campaign will commence on Wednesday December 1st, 2021 between the hours of 8:30am -12:00pm and 1:30pm -3:30pm at Collective Prevention Services (CPS) located at the Vineyard Building in Philipsburg.

The Booster shot will help strengthen protection against severe disease in the population, especially amongst those who are at high- risk for COVID -19 complications.

The Booster will also help those amongst us who are already fully vaccinated with the primary 2 dose series by increasing our protection against breakthrough infections.

Who Should get the Booster?

VMT highly recommends the following persons to receive the Booster 6 months after completion of their primary series (ie. 6 months after their second dose)

• Persons 60 years and older

• Persons 18-59 years with underlying medical conditions or living in long-term care settings

• Persons 18-59 years who are at increased risk for COVID-19 exposure and transmission because of occupational or institutional settings such as health workers and front-line medical workers

The VMT is reminding persons to bring their vaccination card when coming for their booster dose.

If you have taken one of the other acceptable primary vaccine series such as Moderna, Astra Zeneca or Janssen, a Pfizer vaccine can be administered as the Booster vaccine 6 months after the last vaccination in any of these primary series.

For persons in our community who have had the COVID-19 infection, the VMT is strongly encouraging persons to receive both doses. Encouraging completion of the vaccination series, despite the timing of your infection.

There are many persons in our population who received their second dose before June and are now eligible for the booster. There are many who are still unvaccinated or who are at highest risk of getting infected by and spreading COVID-19 in our community.

The CPS location at Vineyard Building is open to all unvaccinated persons and also for those interested in the booster shot. VMT urges everyone to come out and get vaccinated before the holiday season, when we will be at high risk again!

Let’s stay ahead of the virus and keep St.Maarten safe. Say yes to the Booster, but most importantly, come get vaccinated!