FDA vows to evaluate applications for kids’ booster shots within 3 weeks

(FILE)  A girl prepares to receive her COVID-19 vaccine at a mall in Antipolo City on Feb. 19.—GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines — The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is still waiting for applications to authorize booster shots for kids aged 5 to 11, but has assured it will finish the evaluation within three weeks once it receives one.

“Sa ngayon po wala pa pong naga-apply or natatanggap na kahit anong application para sa booster doses na pang-5 to 11 years old,” FDA officer-in-charge Dr. Oscar Gutierrez said during Friday’s Laging Handa briefing.

(For now, we have not yet received any application for the booster doses for those aged 5 to 11.)

“Kung sakali mang may maga-apply, sa loob po ng tatlong linggo, susubukan po natin ma-evaluate ito agad,” he added.

(If we do receive an application, within three weeks, we will try to complete the evaluation.)

“Kakayanin po yan kasi nagtutulungan naman po kami dito lahat, kasama po ng ating mga vaccine experts,” he further said.

(We can do it because it’s all hands on deck, including the vaccine experts.)

Primary vaccination for the said age group began in February this year.

Recently, the United States FDA authorized the use of a booster shot of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccines for 5 to 11-year-olds.

In the Philippines, those who have completed their primary series of COVID-19 vaccines are eligible to receive the first booster shot.

The Department of Health, meanwhile, announced that the elderly and health frontliners may now avail of their second COVID-19 booster shots.

/MUF