THE Department of Health will start today giving senior citizens and immunocompromised individuals booster and additional shots of COVID-19 vaccines.
The seniors, who belong to the A2 priority group of the government’s national vaccination drive, and the immunocompromised individuals (A3), are joining the A1 group composed of healthcare workers who started receiving the booster shots on November 17.
The National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) said the booster and third shots for the A2 and A3 groups will be either be “homologous,” or the same brand as the first doses, “heterologous,” or another brand.
Based on DOH Department Memorandum No. 2021-0492, homologous doses (same brand) shall be available to Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Moderna. On the other hand, Sputnik V and Janssen are not yet available for homologous shots.
As for heterologous doses (mixed brand), the DOH advised that the vaccines of AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Moderna are available as booster shots or additional doses for those who received Sinovac, Sputnik V, and Janssen in their primary series.
Pfizer and Moderna shots may also be given to those with AstraZeneca shots; AstraZeneca and Moderna for those with Pfizer shots; and Pfizer and AstraZeneca for those with Moderna shots.
The DOH said those that got Pfizer, Moderna, Sinovac, Sputnik V, and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines may get their booster or additional shots at least six months after completion of the primary dose series.
On the other hand, those that received Janssen doses for their primary vaccines may get inoculation with booster or additional shots at least three months after completion of the primary dose series.
Last week, the DOH started giving booster shots to all eligible healthcare workers.
Government is negotiating with Russia for the purchase of 10 million to 20 million doses of the single-dose Sputnik Light vaccine to be used as booster shots next year, the National Task Force against coronavirus disease (NTF-COVID-19) said.
The country on Friday received a donation of five million doses of Sputnik Light vaccines from Russia, and these will be used in the COVID-19 inoculation program in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Also on Friday, Russia delivered 2.8 million doses of the regular Sputnik V vaccines, which completed the delivery of the 10 million doses that the country procured.
“Baka pumunta dito ang Russian counterparts natin. Ang maganda dito, very affordable ang price. We have some inkling that we can negotiate 10 to 20 million doses of Sputnik Light, for next year’s booster shots (Our Russian counterparts might come to the country.
What’s good is it’s price is very affordable. We have some inkling that we can negotiate 10 to 20 million doses of Sputnik Light, for next year’s booster shots),” NTF chief and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said in a statement released on Saturday.
The Food and Drug Administration granted Sputnik Light emergency use authorization (EUA) in August. Last week, it approved an amended EUA for Sputnik to allow the use of Sputnik Light as a booster or as third shot, regardless of the vaccine brand used as first shots or primary vaccines.
The country has received 133.16 million doses of vaccine as of Friday. As of November 20, it has administered 75.2 million doses of vaccines, with 33.46 million Filipinos fully vaccinated while some 41.68 million have received the first dose.
The target is to fully vaccinate 54 million to 77 million or 50 percent to 70 percent of the targeted population by the year end.
The government launched the national COVID-19 vaccination drive on March 1.
To further speed up vaccination efforts, the government has set November 29 to December 1 as vaccination days.
The target is to inoculate 15 million during the three-day event National Vaccination Day, with priority on those who have yet to receive their first shots, and those who have yet to receive second shots.
“If we can’t (reach the target of 15 million), we would want to reach at least 50 percent to 70 percent. That is already good enough,” Health Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire said in a briefing on Saturday.
The DOH has issued a call for 160,000 volunteers that will form the 30,000 vaccination teams that will man the inoculation sites.
Volunteers may serve as health screeners, vaccinators, post-vaccination monitors, health educators, registration personnel, encoder, and data consolidator or tallier.
The country started administering boosters on healthcare workers on November 17 and the Interagency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has approved boosters for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who are set for deployment in the next four months.
With just over a week before companies begin to require their workers to get vaccinated, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) called for exemptions to the policy.
“We hope that there will be some exemptions to workers that have medical issues, or those that will experience complications if they get vaccinated,” TUCP spokesman Alan Tanjusay said in a virtual forum.
Tanjusay said some workers have sought the TUCP’s assistance for exemption.
“There are many workers who are really afraid because they have comorbidities, like hypertension and allergies,” he said.
He said a worker may be allowed to secure certification from a government doctor or the company doctor, which will say he or she cannot be vaccinated.
Earlier, Malacañang announced that COVID-19 vaccination will be required for employees doing on-site work, in areas where there are enough supplies of COVID-19 vaccines, beginning December 1.
The Department of Labor and Employment is expected to issue a labor advisory to guide employers and workers on their compliance with said policy.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Immigration said fully vaccinated individuals can now conduct immigration-related transactions physically following the de-escalation of the National Capital Region to Alert Level 2 due to the continuing decrease in COVID-19 cases.
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said individuals who are able to present their vaccination cards showing that they are fully inoculated will be allowed entry to process immigration-related documents, without the need of prior booking through the bureau’s online appointment system. — With Gerard Naval and Ashzel Hachero
