Department of Health’s Officer-In-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire– INQUIRER.net file photo / Noy Morcoso
The Philippines is expecting another 300,000 COVID-19 bivalent doses on top of the initial batch of one million doses to be shipped to the country next month. According to Department of Health (DOH) officer in charge Maria Rosario Vergeire, an agreement for the donated bivalent jabs is being finalized while guidelines for their rollout will be released soon to allow local governments to prepare. The DOH earlier said that priority would be given to health-care workers, the elderly and individuals with comorbidities under an emergency use authorization. In December, the Food and Drug Administration approved for emergency use the bivalent jabs of vaccine manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna—“next generation” doses that target not only the original COVID-19 strain, but particularly the Omicron variant and its subvariants.