Teens start getting COVID-19 booster jabs
FILE PHOTO: Health Usec. Myrna Cabotaje. Screengrab from RTVM
MANILA, Philippines — The government on Wednesday began administering COVID-19 booster shots to adolescents between 12 and 17 years old as part of preparations for their return to in-person classes this coming school year.
At the Laging Handa public briefing, Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje, outgoing head of the National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC), said the immunocompromised would be given priority but they must have completed their primary series (two doses) of the COVID-19 vaccine 28 days ago or earlier.
They should present their vaccination card, medical certificate and a written consent from a parent or guardian at designated hospitals where the booster shots would be administered.
For nonimmunocompromised adolescents of the same age, they must have completed their primary series at least five months before. They can start getting their booster shots on Friday or Saturday, according to Cabotaje.
She said the different intervals had been approved by the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC) and that only Pfizer vaccines would be given as boosters.
Asked if a booster shot should be required of those attending in-person classes, Cabotaje said she believed it should be, although she pointed out that the law requires the consent of recipients.
Providential
For Department of Health (DOH) adviser and pediatric expert Anna Ong-Lim, the rollout of COVID-19 booster shots for adolescents was “providential.”
“This is in preparation for the resumption of face-to-face classes” when school starts in August or September, she said during the same briefing.
Another health official also urged parents and guardians with misgivings about in-person classes to have their children vaccinated against COVID-19 to increase their “confidence and protection” when they return to school.
“Let us try to be more scientific in our analysis. Let’s use the alert level system. As long as the alert level is at 1, we can say we can resume” in-person classes, said Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.
She urged “overprotective” parents and guardians to consider their children’s mental health.
“The lockdown has lasted for more than two years already. This is the time for us to let them go back to school and have interaction with other people, classmates, teachers so their learning will not stop,” she added.
According to Vergeire, there was “no need to panic” about the rising number of COVID-19 cases nationwide, so long as hospital admissions and severe and critical cases remain low.
DOH adviser Edsel Salvana said the average 400 daily new reported cases was a far cry from the 18,000 cases during the last surge in January this year.
“We have to go into the endemic mindset … We are in a very different situation than last January. The percentage of people who will get severe or critical illness is lower; we are paying attention to admissions,” he said.
Regarding COVID-19 vaccine supplies, Cabotaje said the government had procured enough stocks for the rest of the year.
Of the nearly 2 million doses about to expire, the World Health Organization-led COVAX Facility would be donating 300,000 doses as replacement, with the rest arriving by the fourth quarter depending on the country’s inventory, she said.
The next administration, Cabotaje added, would not need to buy more vaccines except when HTAC approves the immunization of children 5 years old and younger as their vaccines would have a different formulation.
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