A2, A3 sectors can choose brand of additional shots: DOH

MANILA – Senior citizens (A2) and immunocompromised individuals (A3) have the option to pick their vaccine brands once the government rolls out the third or additional doses, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Saturday.

Vergeire said the guidelines for the two priority sectors will be released soon after a meeting with health experts on Thursday.

“[I]to pong sa ating senior citizens at saka sa immunocompromised, tinitingnan natin kasi it is medically-indicated and kailangan ‘pag immunocompromised, it’s going to be called a third dose (We’re studying the rollout for the senior citizens and immunocompromised because theirs would be medically indicated. For the immunocompromised, the term would be the third dose),” she said.

“Although pareho po natin ibibigay iyong choice ng homologous or heterologous para sa kanila (We will give them both the choice of homologous and heterologous). So we will be issuing out these guidelines in the coming days para po sa information ng public,” she added.

Homologous dosing refers to the administration of the same vaccine brand as the ones given to complete an individual’s primary vaccine series while heterologous allows the use of a different vaccine type or brand.

On November 17, the government rolled out the booster vaccination for health care workers to increase the level of their antibodies against Covid-19.

Among the health care workers who received their booster shots since Wednesday, Vergeire said only a few experienced mild side effects, such as pain in the injection area, headache, fever, and an increase in blood pressure.

“All of them were managed accordingly at wala namang na-hospitalize at wala po tayong (nobody was hospitalized and we did not get any) bad outcome,” she said.

“We are still trying to evaluate the data as to how many got homologous and how many got heterologous vaccines among our health care workers. What we can say right now is mababa po ang mga nagiging reaksiyon ng ating mga health care workers dito sa booster doses na sinasagawa natin (the adverse reaction among our health care workers after getting their booster is low),” she added.