2M AstraZeneca jabs to be used as booster shots

MANILA – The number of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines procured by the private sector has increased to 15 million after 2,005,300 doses arrived on Wednesday.

Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said the new shipment of AstraZeneca vaccine procured under the private sector’s “A Dose for Hope” program, will mostly be used as booster shots for both the local government units (LGUs) and the private sector.

“The employees that had taken the first two doses, starting this coming week they will start to get their boosters,” Concepcion said during the AstraZeneca vaccine arrival at the NAIA Terminal 1 in Parañaque City.

Concepcion said the remaining 1,981,500 doses of the 17 million AstraZeneca jabs procured by the private sector will arrive on Wednesday, December 29.

He said the private sector’s procurement of Moderna vaccine will also be completed within this month.

“Indeed, the Philippines has enough supply, more than enough. There’s no reason why people should not take the vaccine,” Concepcion said.

With the looming threat of the Omicron variant, he urged the public to get themselves vaccinated and to get their boosters shots by the first quarter of 2022.

“If it does come this coming quarter, I think with the National Capital Region (NCR) fully vaccinated, the ramping up of “vax to the max” in Visayas and Mindanao, and the boosters being approved now for three months, that’s a big boost,” Concepcion said.

Staying in Alert Level 2

Meanwhile, he said the private sector has agreed to retain the country’s Alert Level 2 status in January 2022 as further easing restrictions to Alert Level 1 is “not going to increase your sales.”

“Hopefully, we can have face-to-face classes. But then again, we will only support it if our children are fully vaccinated, up to 17 years old and 5 to 11 years old,” Concepcion said.

Meanwhile, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. thanked the private sector, particularly the Go Negosyo and the “more than 300 business conglomerates” for their contribution in the Philippine government’s vaccination campaign.

By the end of 2021, Galvez said the Philippines is expected to have a total of about 210 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines.