AN advisory group has withdrawn its condition for the provision of COVID-19 booster shots to some adolescents, paving the way for the administration of the additional vaccine to all minors aged 12 to 17 years, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said yesterday.
The Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC) has “recommended” that the boosters for non-immunocompromised 12-to-17-year-olds be allowed only in areas where 40 percent of senior citizens have received booster shots.
“The 40 percent coverage for senior citizens has been retracted already by the HTAC after some meetings,” Duque said in forum.
The HTAC recommendation put on hold the provision of vaccines to the non-immunocompromised 12-to-17-year-olds, which should have started last weekend.
The Department of Health (DOH) and the National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) began rolling out booster shots for immunocompromised adolescents on June 23 after the issuance of implementing guidelines.
Duque said they explained to the HTAC that such a prerequisite would pose operational issues for the NVOC because of the low coverage of booster shots nationwide.
“Operationally, it is very difficult to meet that requirement. That’s a very difficult requirement, very impracticable,” he said.
“HTAC was late to understand these difficulties,” he added.
As of June 26, there were 6.75 million fully-inoculated senior citizens, but only 2.24 million have gotten booster shots.
Duque said guidelines for the booster shots for the rest of the 12-to-17 group are being finalized.
“Within the week, we can see the booster doses being utilized for the rest of the 12-to-17 age group,” he said.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire and incoming NVOC head said, “The implementing guidelines for the boosters for the rest of the general adolescent population ages 12-17 years may be out within this week.
“Everything is in order already now… In the coming days, we are going to implement it already,” she added.
