Dr. Glenn Mathew Baggao, chief of the Cagayan Valley Medical Center (CVMC), gets his booster shot of Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19 on Wednesday, Nov. 17. (Photo courtesy of CVMC photo)
MANILA, Philippines — Both the cities of San Juan and Taguig on Wednesday began administering vaccine booster shots against COVID-19 for the first time on medical frontliners.
This came after the Department of Health (DOH) finally approved booster shots on Monday, Nov. 15.
In Taguig, medical frontliners received their shots during the first rollout of booster jabs at its vaccination hub at SM Aura, Barangay Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.
Meanwhile, the first rollout of booster shots in San Juan had been facilitated at Filoil Flying V Centre in Bonny Serrano Avenue.
Another 250 healthcare workers also received their booster shots during the ceremonial inoculation at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) led by Health Secretary Francisco Duque.
Cagayan, earlier, also administered 100 total vaccine booster shots.
As of writing, the Food and Drug Administration has given emergency use authorization to four COVID-19 vaccine brands — Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Sinovac, and Sputnik — as additional doses for fully vaccinated individuals.
Meanwhile, after medical frontliners, the second priority group will be senior citizens and immunocompromised adults, the third priority group covers persons aged 18 to 60 who have comorbidities that put them at high risk of contracting COVID-19.
Booster shots were administered after studies have shown that antibodies against COVID-19 waned after several months
RELATED STORIES:
Health workers can choose COVID-19 booster shot, says DOH
Vaccine booster for health workers won’t include relatives, house help yet — DOH