Swiss officials: Covid vaccine protects for 12 months

A man receives a plaster after getting his jab in Bern Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

Coronavirus vaccines could offer at least 12 months of protection against all forms of the virus, a top Swiss health official says. This increases the former official line of six months of protection.

The Federal Vaccination Commission has concluded that people are protected for at least a year against infection  – and more than that against severe cases, said Virginie Masserey, head of the Federal Office of Public Health’s Infectious Diseases Section,  at a press conference on Tuesday.

It will therefore not be necessary to have a booster jab before 2022, she added.

Ordinances on the issue will be changed to reflect this change of view.

More than half of adults have already received at least one dose of the vaccine, Masserey explained. This rises to at least 80% for vulnerable groups. The vaccination campaign is proceeding well, with around 100,000 vaccinations a day, the official said. There are no indications that vaccine willingness is dropping off.

Covid certificate

The development of the forgery proof Covid certificate is also going well, with more than 650,000 already sent out, Masserey said. “We are confident that all those who want can have access to a certificate by the end of the month,” she said. This is to be given to anyone who has been vaccinated, has recovered from or has recently tested negative for coronavirus. The validity length of the certificate would also be changed due to the protection advice change.

Trend, variants

Meanwhile downward trend in case numbers is continuing. There were 243 reported Covid-19 casesExternal link on Tuesday, 14 hospitalisations and two deaths. New infections have stayed below 1,000 since May 26.

Masserey added that until now the number of cases linked to new variants of the coronavirus like the Delta variant were relatively low. Vaccines were also effective against these variants, but people still had to be careful as not everyone had yet been vaccinated, she added