No recommendation yet to use booster shots in PH: DOH exec

MANILA – Filipino health experts have yet to recommend the use of booster shots for those fully vaccinated against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Saturday.

In a Laging Handa briefing, Vergeire cited the lack of “full evidence” over the additional jab’s efficacy as well as the immunity the initial vaccines provide against the disease.

She also noted the scarcity of study covering other vaccines that the Philippines currently have like China’s Sinovac and Russia’s Sputnik V.

“Kailangan nating mag-doble ingat sa pag-adopt ng ganitong practices kasi kailangan nating masiguro na safe ito. Sa ngayon ang ating mga eksperto ay hindi pa inire-rekomenda itong booster shots na ito (We need to be extra careful when adopting these kinds of practices because we need to make sure it is safe. Currently, our experts are not yet recommending these booster shots),” she said.

Vergeire added that allocating booster shots at this point in time would mean “we’re going to set aside” those people who have not yet received their vaccines when the rollout began.

“Now that our vaccines are still unstable when it comes to supply, bigyan natin ng tsansa na makapagpa-bakuna tayo sa lahat ng kailangang bakunahan sa bansa at kapag lumabas na ‘yong sufficient evidence (we need to make sure that everybody is vaccinated with the initial two shots and when sufficient evidence comes out) for these booster doses we will study that and give a recommendation,” she said.

The Philippine Embassy in Washington DC earlier confirmed it is in discussion with Moderna to secure some 50 million doses of booster shots in 2022.

Vergeire said the country has so far vaccinated around 12.9 million people.