The health ministry has released COVID-19 booster shot guidelines that allow for exceptions to its standard eight-month waiting period following an individual's second dose.
According to the new rules announced on Friday, third jabs after a six-month interval can be given to residents and employees at elderly care facilities in the event of a cluster of infections. The same goes for patients and workers at cluster-hit medical facilities. In such cases, local municipalities need to report the situation to the health ministry before administering inoculations.
The release of the guidelines came after the government said earlier this month that shorter-interval booster shots can be offered in some exceptional cases, but leaders of local governments and municipalities, which actually manage vaccination programs for their residents, claimed that the rules were ambiguous.