FULLY vaccinated Filipinos aged 18 years and older can now receive booster shots for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Eric Domingo, director general of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said the agency on Monday granted emergency use authorization (EUA) for booster shots involving the same brands of COVID-19 vaccines.
“(It was) approved on Monday to include all adults 18 years old and above, based on assessment of benefits and risks, similar to US CDC (Centers for Disease Control) recommendations for boosters,” he said.
Domingo said the approved boosters will involve the same combinations for healthcare workers who composed the A1 priority group in the national vaccination program, senior citizens (A2), and immunocompromised individuals (A3).
Domingo said the Department of Health is set to come up with specific guidelines “soon.”
Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said in a briefing the DOH is finalizing the guidelines.
“In the next couple of days, we will have the booster shots for all 18 years old and above,” said Cabotaje.
The DOH started giving booster shots to healthcare workers on November 17. Booster shots for senior citizens and additional doses for immunocompromised individuals began last November 22.
Meanwhile, senators asked Carlito Galvez Jr., chief of the National Task Force against COVID-19 and concurrent vaccine czar, to allow the private sector to use the COVID-19 vaccines it has bought, as booster shots for their employees and families now that the country has a steady supply of vaccines.
The senators made the call after Galvez last week turned down the request of several business groups which said the government stockpile continues to increase “as the vaccines are arriving faster than they can be dispensed.”
Galvez told the business groups that about 70 million people “are deprived” of the vaccines and it is government’s “moral and mandatory” obligation to prioritize those who have not been given even a single vaccine dose.
Senate majority leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said the government should allow the private sector to use the vaccines as boosters so these will not go to waste.
“If there is still vaccine hesitancy, then go ahead with the booster shots to A4 (group). Let’s not waste the vaccines,”
Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, who steered the passage of the COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act, said the appeal is reasonable amid reports that vaccines are about to expire in the different areas of the country.
“The country now has a steady supply of vaccines and the volume will increase over the next few months. The private sector played a huge part in making this happen with its purchases in parallel with the government’s own,” Angara said.
“We understand that there is still a huge portion of our adult population that remains unvaccinated. We reiterate our call for all Filipinos to get these life-saving vaccines. But, when we have a situation where vaccines are available and are about to expire, then we should consider the call of the private sector who are prepared to use them right away,” he added.
Angara said now that the economy has started to slowly bounce back, the vaccination of people, especially in highly-urbanized areas, has contributed a lot to this development.
Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III said it is about time to adopt the attitude of “vaccination of the willing.”
“Sino may gusto, bakunahan na (Whoever wants to be inoculated, let them be inoculated) But give as booster shots only those designed or formulated as booster shot,” Pimentel said.
Sen. Nancy Binay said since the country is “confronted with the expiration of vaccines” bought by the private sector, “it is best” if government will allow these to be used as booster shots as long as workers are eligible. — With Raymond Africa
“Let us be more practical and realistic. We can’t afford life-saving vaccines to be wasted dahil hindi fair doon sa mga matagal nang naghihintay na mabakunahan (it would be unfair to those who have waited long to get vaccinated),” Binay said.
