Concepcion: Approve 2nd booster shot for employees

VAX GOES ON | People continue to get their COVID-19 vaccine shots in Marikina City as the government begins administering the second booster dose to the most vulnerable members of the population. —(File photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — Following the decision of the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC) to recommend Covid-19 booster shots for minors aged 12 to 17, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion is urging the body to approve second booster shots for company employees, or those 50 years and older.

Concepcion said vaccinations have a high acceptance rate among employees and that the private sector already has its own supply of vaccines.

“We are in the middle of an economic storm,’’ he said, referring to rising fuel and commodity prices, along with fears of stagflation. “We need to protect people who are now keeping our economy afloat.”

The Department of Health has approved the HTAC recommendation for teens to get their first boosters. So far, second booster shots are available only to healthcare workers, the elderly (60 years and above), and immunocompromised individuals.

“I don’t see any reason the HTAC should not approve boosters for 50-year-olds when the CDC (in the United States), which is a well-respected body, has already approved it. And those vaccines approved for second boosters are already available here,” he said.

The CDC is the same body that recommended second boosters for ages 12 years and older, and in May it expanded its guidance for booster doses to be given to children ages 5 through 11, Concepcion noted.

“We are not generalizing that all workers below 60 should get second boosters, but only those who need added protection, which, for the private sector, are our 50-plus-year-old employees,” he said.

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