Honduras begins giving COVID-19 booster shots to all adults

Honduras began offering booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to all adults on Thursday as it seeks to counter the threat posed by the Omicron variant of the virus, Health Minister Alba Flores said.

The Central American country had previously only given the third vaccine doses to health workers, people aged over 60 and those with medical conditions that put them at high risk.

"Today we're giving the Pfizer vaccine to the population aged 18 and above who have already had a second dose three months ago. We have not confirmed the presence of the Omicron variant, but we must prevent it," Flores told reporters.

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen the novel coronavirus infect 378,994 people in Honduras and cause the death of 10,429, official data shows.

Of the population of about 9.5 million people, 4,876,759 have had one dose of vaccine, 3,848,658 people have had two, and 278,006 three, according to health authorities.