THE Department of Health is set to launch today its nationwide COVID-19 booster shot campaign dubbed “PinasLakas.”
DOH officer-in-charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the campaign aims to make vaccines more accessible and available in public places such as markets, places of worship, malls, transport terminals, offices, factories, plazas, and schools.
The campaign, she added, will include home visits for senior citizens.
Earlier, the DOH said that it aims to vaccinate 90 percent of target senior citizens during the first 100 days of the new administration.
The DOH also said that it targets to boost 50 percent of the target population until early October.
Meanwhile, Vergeire over the weekend said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is set to ask COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers to begin applying for certificates of product registration (CPRs) in preparation for a possible lifting of the state of calamity due to the pandemic in September.
The FDA has issued emergency use authorizations (EUAs) to seven COVID-19 vaccines — Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sinovac, Sputnik V/Sputnik Light, Janssen, Moderna, and Sinopharm.
The EUAs will be invalidated if the state of calamity is lifted in September, Vergeire said. The CPRs, she added, will allow the manufacturers to continue supplying COVID vaccines to the country.
“In the event that we lift the state of calamity, we already have issued CPRs and, thus, won’t encounter problems using our vaccines,” she said.
President Marcos Jr. has ordered a review of the state of calamity proclamation. Vergeire said the review is ongoing.
As of July 24, about 71.5 million individuals have been fully vaccinated, and some 15.9 million have received booster shots.
