As of yesterday 17,282 Belizeans or 4.2% of the country's population had received a first dose of the COVID-19 AstraZeneca Vaccine.
And if you've already gotten the jab you may be wondering what level of protection your first dose offers you, when that protection kicks in, and why you have to wait a full 12 weeks for your second dose.
We put those questions to Ministry of Health and Wellness specialist Dr. Natalia Beer yesterday, here's her very detailed response.
Reporter
"What kind of immunity or protection does the first vaccine gives you and how many days after the shot will you have that protection?"
Dr. Natalia Beer, Technical Advisor, Maternal and Child Health, MOHW
"The anti-bodies start to protect the person 14 days after the first shot and the level of effectiveness is around 40-50% and then with the second dose that will be closer to from 62-90%."
Reporter
"Why are the shots based 3 months apart here in Belize when ideally wounldnt they be given 21 days apart?"
Dr. Natalia Beer
"Well ideally we are following the manufacturing company recommendations and the evidence that is out there. Plus, we need to remind ourselves that the production of the vaccines at this point is low and the evidence is showing that you have a higher anti-bodies around 12 weeks, so the reason why we started out with 8 weeks is because we don't know when a third wave will kick in to Belize, so we need to protect the most critical which is the healthcare workers, for them to receive their second shot before that. So we are doing all that we can and we appreciate the collaboration from the community by the mask, hand sanitizing, physical distancing and the other measures, but the recommendation is 12 weeks currently."
There was one COVID death today and we'll tell you about that later on in the news.
