DOH: Half of healthcare workers yet to receive COVID-19 booster shot

 (AFP)

MANILA, Philippines — Around half of fully-vaccinated healthcare workers have yet to receive their COVID-19 booster shots even as the government beefs up efforts to increase uptake for boosters,  the Department of Health (DOH) said Friday.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire pointed out that while 95 percent of health workers in the country have already been fully vaccinated, this does not translate to a high uptake for boosters among health workers.

“Dito sa booster doses, we only have an accomplishment of 49.07 percent, so ibig sabihin kalahati doon sa bilang ng ating mga healthcare workers ay hindi pa nabibigyan ng booster doses,” she said in an online media briefing.

(For the booster doses, we only have an accomplishment of 49.07 percent, so it means half of our healthcare workers have yet to receive booster doses.)

DOH Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire (INQUIRER FILES)

Dr. Anna Ong-Lim, a pediatric infectious disease expert and member of the DOH’s Technical Advisory Group, said the declining number of COVID-19 cases may have something to do low rate of administered booster shots.

“It is actually a phenomenon that is observed across different vaccines. Kapag nababawasan ang dami ng kaso, syempre nagiging kampante ang mga tao, bumababa ang uptake ng bakuna and dahil dumadami na naman ang pool of susceptibles, tataas na naman ang kaso,” said Lim.

(It is actually a phenomenon that is observed across different vaccines. When cases decrease, the uptake of vaccines decreases, and because the pool of susceptible individuals increases, the cases also increase.)

“It’s really human nature. I think the message to everybody, particularly to those who are at high risk like those with occupational exposure, ‘yung ating (our) health workers, ‘yung ating (our) seniors or those with comorbidities, let us take advantage of this lull na bumababa ang kaso at magpabooster na tayo (that cases are decrease and let us get booster shots),” she added.

Based on the National COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard, a total of 2.9 million individuals under the A1 category have already been fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, 1.3 million have received booster shots.

Health workers were the first to receive COVID-19 vaccines when the government rolled out anti-coronavirus shots in March last year.

Booster doses may be provided at least three months after the full vaccination with AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, Moderna, Pfizer, Sinopharm, and Sinovac brands of the COVID-19 vaccine.

It may be provided at least two months after the vaccination with single-shot vaccines like Janssen and Sputnik Light.

The DOH has repeatedly expressed concern over the slow uptake for booster shots amidst a decrease in the number of COVID-19 cases, even prompting presidential adviser for entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion to urge the government to require booster cards in establishments by June.

As of April 21, more than 67.3 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while 12.7 million have received booster shots.

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