Vaccine expert: Ramp up vax efforts now, talk about boosters for kids later

MANILA, Philippines — The government must ramp up its COVID-19 vaccinations of primary series before talking about administering booster shots to minors, vaccine expert panel head Dr. Nina Gloriani said on Thursday.

During the Laging Handa briefing, Gloriani was asked if children aged 12 to 17, who have undergone COVID-19 vaccination, may be given a booster shot.

“Hindi pa po natin pinag-uusapan iyan. Actually, ang kailangan pong maintindihan ng lahat, kailangan pong mai-ramp up muna ang ating primary series of immunization,” she explained.

(We are not discussing that yet. Actually, what everyone needs to understand is we need to ramp up our primary series of immunization.)

“Kailangan pong ipaakyat natin iyong naka-receive ng first two doses pa lang, hindi pa muna iyong third dose,” Gloriani added.

(We need to boost the number of individuals who have received the first two doses, not the third dose yet.)

Gloriani pointed out that they are not worrying much about the waning immunity of vaccines among children as they have a good immune response.

“At sa mga bata, hindi po natin pinag-uusapan iyan. Tatapusin muna nila iyong two doses. Sa mga bata po kasi maganda ang immune response nila, mas mataas kaysa sa medyo may edad. So, hindi po tayo masyadong nagwo-worry ang waning immunity sa kanila. Hindi po muna,” she noted.

(For children, we are not talking about boosters yet. They have to finish the first two doses. They have a better immune response than adults. That is why we do not worry about the vaccine’s waning immunity among minors.)

Currently, the government is rolling out its pediatric COVID-19 vaccination to minors aged 12 to 17

Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje earlier said that discussions on the possible COVID-19 vaccination of children aged below 12 are already underway.

RELATED STORY:

Arriving COVID vaccines to be used as booster shots in 2022 — Galvez 

JPV