Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 17) — Fully vaccinated healthcare workers are formally given the liberty to choose the COVID-19 vaccine brand they want to receive as their booster shot as the program rolled out on Wednesday.
The Department of Health issued the 15-page guidelines on the administration of booster doses for the A1 priority sector.
The approved booster shots for 1.6 million health workers are a single dose of Pfizer, Sinovac, and AstraZeneca, and half the regular dose of a Moderna shot.
Getting the booster shots are purely voluntary. Medical frontliners need to inform the vaccination site what brand they prefer, so it can be prepared in advance.
They can opt to use the same vaccine brand (homologous) or a different one (heterologous) from the initial series they received. The approved mix-and-match combination was laid down by the DOH.
If the vaccinees opt to get a different brand as their booster, they may receive the following:
-Sinovac: AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna (half dose)
-AstraZeneca: Pfizer, Moderna (half dose)
-Sputnik V: AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna (half dose)
-Janssen: AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna (half dose)
-Pfizer: AstraZeneca, Moderna (half dose)
-Moderna: AstraZeneca, Pfizer
The Health department recommended using Pfizer or Moderna as booster if the health worker received AstraZeneca as the first series.
Those who received AstraZeneca as their first two doses can receive the same brand as their booster, but it should be used with precaution based on the emergency use authorization granted by the Food and Drug Administration, the DOH said.
“Vector-based vaccines (e.g. AstraZeneca) are recommended to be boosted with a different vaccine platform due to the theoretical possibility of pre-existing immunity attenuating or weakening the immune response on the second or third dose,” DOH memorandum No. 0484 read.
A fully vaccinated health worker can only receive one booster shot. It shall be given at least six months after if they received Pfizer, Moderna, Sinovac, Sputnik V, and AstraZeneca as their first series, then three months after if they got the single-shot Janssen vaccine.
Booster shots are given to those whose immunity is going down over time after completing their first series.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said studies are ongoing to determine how long the booster shots can provide protection vs COVID-19.
“Ang booster dose ang layunin nito ay maitaas muli ang sapat na antibody protection, which over time alam natin bumababa ito,” he said.
[Translation: The purpose of the booster dose is to increase the antibody protection again, which we know goes down over time.]
Majority of health workers in the country received Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine when the inoculation drive started six months ago since it was the first brand to arrive in the country.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., one of the first personalities to get vaccinated with Sinovac in March, said he would receive the same brand as his booster shot.
