Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 17) — COVID-19 vaccination sites must prioritize giving first and second vaccine doses over administering booster shots to healthcare workers, the Department of Health (DOH) said.
“With the simultaneous conduct of primary and booster vaccination, vaccination sites had been instructed to – first, they have to ensure prioritization of primary vaccination,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a town hall Wednesday.
DOH Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje agreed. “Our primary consideration is still to finish our primary doses,” she said.
She also urged vaccination sites not to use the vaccines set aside for first and second doses as booster shots.
Booster shots are now being offered to healthcare workers. They shall be given at least six months after they received two doses of the Pfizer, Moderna, Sinovac, Sputnik V, or AstraZeneca vaccines, and three months after they got the single-dose Janssen shot.
Fully vaccinated healthcare workers can choose which COVID-19 vaccine to receive as a booster shot, provided the one they prefer is available at vaccination sites. Approved to be used as booster shots are Sinovac, Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca vaccines.
Those who originally received the Sinovac, Pfizer, Moderna, or AstraZeneca vaccine can opt to be injected with the shot made by the same brand, or a different one.
But Vergeire noted that those who initially got the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna are “not recommended” to receive the Sinovac vaccine as their booster shot.
She also said those who received two doses of AstraZeneca can be given a shot from the same brand as their booster, but it should be used with precaution. She said those inoculated with vector-based vaccines such as AstraZeneca should be given a vaccine from a different brand for their booster due to a possible efficacy issue.
Healthcare workers who initially got Sputnik V or Janssen vaccine can pick AstraZeneca, Pfizer, or Moderna.
Meanwhile, two health experts said booster shots are not yet for everyone.
“If your risk is high, if you are in A2 or A3, or your exposure is high – A1 frontliner, we are giving the option,” Dr. Edsel Salvana said in the same town hall.
Salvana added that getting a booster dose is voluntary “precisely because we do not know what is the added protection versus the potential risk of side effects with either the homologous or heterologous vaccines.” But he said boosters might work for certain populations.
Dr. Anna Ong-Lim had a similar view.
“Kung A1 tayo at nabibilang sa mga grupong iyon (senior citizens, immunocompromised individuals), those groups we would encourage – avail of this opportunity now kasi mukhang kakailanganin nila,” she said.
[Translation: If we are part of A1 and also belong to the groups of senior citizens, immunocompromised individuals, we would encourage – avail of this opportunity now because they might need it.]
