ILOILO – The provincial government is ready to administer second booster shots of the vaccine against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) once the national government gives the go-signal, according to Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amended last week the emergency use authorization given to COVID-19 vaccines to allow giving an additional booster shot to frontline healthcare workers, persons 60 years old and above, and immunocompromised patients.
“Yes, we are ready. We have vaccines and we have vaccinators,” said Defensor.
The second booster shot will be given at least four months after the first booster shot, according to the Department of Health (DOH).
According to Defensor, a second booster will reinforce immunity against COVID-19.
“Kag sa wala pa nabakunahan, palihug magpabakuna na kita para kon magbalik liwat ang problema sang COVID-19 mas mapag-on kita kag indi matam-an kay. Sa mortality naton sang nagliligad nga binulan, madamo wala nabakunahan,” said Defensor.
He did not discount the possibility of a surge in infections after the May 9 elections.
As of April 19, 1,159,074 individuals in the province were already fully vaccinated – this is 69.38 percent of the 1,670,578 population target.
DOH undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje earlier said the second booster shot rollout will start after the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC), an independent advisory body, completes its review.
Cabotaje said 1,806,928 individuals were qualified to receive a second booster shot based on the four-month interval.
The first booster shot is given at least three months after the second dose of a primary-two dose vaccine or at least two months after the primary single-dose vaccine is given.
As of April 11, data from the DOH showed that more than 66.7 million individuals were fully vaccinated, including nine million adolescents and 1.3 million children.
Around 12.5 million individuals have received their booster shots.
The COVID -19 vaccine brands currently part of the Philippine inventory and have been cleared for emergency use are Sinovac, Sinopharm, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Sputnik V, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson (Janssen).
Janssen is the sole single-dose vaccine currently approved for use in the country while the rest are two-dose vaccines./PN
