Over 6,000 healthcare workers get COVID-19 booster jabs — DOH

FILE PHOTO: A hospital worker walks past a colorful mural honoring frontliners painted in front of the Mission hospital in Pasig City during the weekend. INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

MANILA, Philippines — More than 6,000 healthcare workers have received COVID-19 booster shots, according to latest estimates from the Department of Health.

“As of Nov. 18…naka 6,457 tayo sa buong Pilipinas,” Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said in a Saturday interview on Dobol B TV.

(“As of Nov. 18…we’ve reached 6,457 in the entire Philippines.”)

She was referring to the number of health workers who were able to receive their booster jabs since Nov. 17, the first day of the program.

Cabotaje, who also chairs the National Vaccination Operations Center, said the National Capital Region (NCR) has so far registered the highest number of health workers who got the booster vaccines, noting that the region is quick in submitting updates to the DOH.

Of the number, some 2,811 health workers in Metro Manila recieved COVID-19 vaccine boosters, followed by those in Region III (Central Luzon) at 1,541 and those based in the Cordillera Administrative Region at 1,457.

Cabotaje said they are still waiting for data from other areas, including the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The DOH has given the go-signal for fully-vaccinated health workers to recieve their booster doses starting Nov. 17.

The recommended vaccines for boosters are the U.S. brands Moderna and Pfizer and the China-made Sinovac, but the department has separately said that the health workers may choose any vaccine brand for their booster dose.

/MUF