Vax expert recommends booster shot vs. stealth Omicron BA.2

MANILA – Vaccine Expert Panel member Dr. Rontgene Solante on Wednesday said booster shots can provide fully vaccinated individuals an added protection against the highly transmissible BA.2 variant of the Omicron coronavirus strain.

At a virtual Laging Hnada public briefing, Solante said the Omicron BA.2 sublineage has the potential to cause severe infection, especially in the vulnerable population, which is prone to severe Covid-19 infection.

“And that’s what we are trying to monitor and find out if the increase in the cases in other country is also associated with increase in healthcare utilization kung saan (wherein) it is caused by a severe type of a BA.2,” Solante said in an interview.

The country’s health experts have not yet seen similar data in the Philippines, he said.

“But it has a potential to cause a severe disease and that’s what we will be monitoring,” he added.

The vaccine expert likewise assured the public that the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests currently available in the country can still detect the Omicron BA.2 sublineage.

“It is not a major problem in terms of detection. The problem with the BA.2 is more on its high transmissibility higher than that of the BA.1,” he added.

Solante said the latest data showed the BA.2 sublineage has no significant impact in terms of affecting our current vaccine platforms and the severity of infection can be reduced by booster shots.

“We need to encourage everyone, especially the vulnerable population to get their booster so that your risk of getting [infection from BA.2] it will also be lower,” he added. “And that’s also why the current vaccination will really focus on vulnerable population.”

The high transmission risks of a certain variant can still infect anyone, according to Solante.

“But what we want to prevent is developing the more severe infection and that will be prevented with a booster shot,” he added.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement Tuesday that the BA.2 Omicron variant is “not more severe” than the original sublineage, but it appears to be “inherently more transmissible” than BA.1.

“Based on available data of transmission, severity, reinfection, diagnostics, therapeutics, and impacts of vaccines, the group reinforced that the BA.2 sublineage should continue to be considered a variant of concern and that it should remain classified as Omicron,” WHO statement reads.

Ready for Alert Level 1

Despite having a slower transmission rate and downtrend of cases, Solante said the public should not be complacent since the Omicron variant is still emerging in the country up to date.

“Mayroon pa ring puwedeng mahawaan (There are still those who can be infected) and that’s why even if we will transition to a lower level dapat pa ipapanatili pa rin natin ang (we should maintain the) health protocol, particularly the wearing of the face mask, the physical distance, the handwashing and other important measures to prevent getting the infection, particularly vaccination,” Solante noted.

Meanwhile, Solante said there’s no indicator so far stating that the stealth of Omicron can affect the country’s goal of loosening restrictions.

He said it seems that the National Capital Region (NCR) is ready for the shift to a more lenient Alert Level 1 status.

But easing restrictions should not mean being complacent, Solante emphasized.

“We will now be transitioning to Alert Level 1 especially in the NCR pero tuloy pa rin ang bakunahan, tuloy pa rin health protocol at tuloy pa rin ang pag-monitor sa mga kaso (but our vaccination, adherence to health protocol and monitoring cases should continue),” Solante said.

The WHO said it will continue to closely monitor the BA.2 Omicron sub-lineage and requested countries “to continue to be vigilant, to monitor and report sequences, as well as to conduct independent and comparative analyses of the different Omicron sublineages.”