A senior citizen in San Marcelino town, Zambales gets his booster shot against COVID-19 on Friday, Dec. 10. (Photo courtesy of San Marcelino Public Information Office)
The country has enough supply to support the accelerated COVID-19 booster rollout, along with a new vaccination strategy for next year, the government said.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the Food and Drug Administration had amended the emergency use authorization (EUA) for COVID-19 vaccine boosters, shortening the interval between the administration of the primary shots and the booster shots.
This means that booster can now be administered in adults at least three months (instead of six months) after the second dose of a primary two-dose vaccine, or at least two months (instead of three months) after the primary single-dose vaccine.
“The approval came at an opportune time as several other countries have also restrategized (their booster rollout) in light of the Omicron and other COVID-19 variants that may emerge,” Duque said on Tuesday.
According to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, the Philippines has more than enough vaccine supply to support this move. “There are committed doses for our country, almost 200 million doses. We have received about 150 million doses,” she said in a television interview.
“We are expecting 20 to 25 million more doses to arrive by the end of the year,” she added.
Under the previous guidelines, those inoculated with Pfizer, Moderna, Sinovac, Sputnik V and AstraZeneca vaccines were to be given their booster or additional shot at least six months after the completion of the primary dose series. Those who received the Janssen dose as their primary vaccine were supposed to get their booster at least three months after.
Booster shots can only be given to fully vaccinated individuals age 18 and above.
In other countries like South Korea, the United Kingdom and Thailand, the interval has also been cut from six months to three months.
Belgium has shortened its booster wait time to four months, while France, Singapore, Taiwan, Italy and Australia cut theirs to five months. The United States, South Africa and Germany are sticking to the six-month gap.
New strategy for 2022
The country’s vaccine czar, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., has unveiled a national vaccination strategy for next year which would focus on immunizing the unvaccinated population, including school-age children, and providing booster shots to medical and economic front-liners.
In his report to President Duterte on Tuesday, Galvez said topping next year’s strategy was achieving the next milestones of vaccinating 77 million, then 90 million and, eventually, all Filipinos against COVID-19.
The country still has enough vaccine supply to achieve the target of inoculating 54 million individuals by the end of the year, covering qualified minors in the vaccination program and accelerating the booster rollout.
The National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) called on local government units to prepare for people flocking to vaccination sites for their boosters.
Speaking at the Laging Handa briefing, Dr. Kezia Rosario of the NVOC secretariat said that with the shortening of the booster interval, the number of people qualified for booster soared to about 19 million.
19M eligible for booster
“Based on our data, about 19 million individuals are already due for booster/additional doses. This will have a very big impact on the operations on the ground,” she said.
Rosario asked would-be booster recipients not to be choosy on the brands of the vaccine they would be getting. “While we say that we will allow them to choose their preferred brand for their booster shots, our request is for them to accept whatever is available in the vaccination site. Sometimes, people go home because there’s no Pfizer vaccine, the favorite brand,” she said.
Rosario said that based on studies, AstraZeneca and Moderna’s booster shots were as effective as Pfizer’s. The Sinovac booster, on the other hand, may only be administered to those who received the same brand as their primary dose.
Meanwhile, Rosario said the extended second phase of the National Vaccination Days resulted in 1.034 million more doses administered on Tuesday. This brought to about 5.06 million the total doses administered from Dec. 15 to 21.
The NVOC official calls on unvaccinated or partially inoculated people to take advantage of the remaining days of the extended second phase of the National Vaccination Days, as well as the third phase set for Dec. 27.
Personnel at vaccination sites will be taking the holiday breaks on Dec. 24, 25 and 30, and on Jan. 1, she said.
Rosario said about 8 million more needed to be inoculated to meet the government’s yearend target. —WITH A REPORT FROM ARIANNE SUAREZ