A second booster vaccine against COVID-19, effectively a fourth jab, is being made available to all adults in the Czech Republic from Monday.

During an announcement on Monday in Prague, the Health Ministry said the booster can be obtained from doctors or hospitals without pre-registering, under conditions only that the third jab was administered at least four months earlier.

Anyone seen as being at risk, and those older than 60 are being urgently advised to avail themselves of the additional jab, Health Minister Vlastimil Valek said. He stressed that having the vaccination was entirely voluntary.

Two EU agencies, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Medicines Agency, last week urged member states to take this step.

Infections have recently been rising in the Czech Republic, with the seven-day incidence reaching 101 per 100,000 on Monday.

Restrictions put in place to contain the pandemic were lifted in May.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala said recently that new measures were currently seen as unnecessary, as hospitals were not currently threatened with overload.

Since the start of the pandemic more than two years ago, 40,355 people have died from or with the virus, in a population of more than 10.5 million.

(dpa/NAN)