Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 18) — Infectious disease experts on Tuesday urged Filipinos to avail of COVID-19 booster shots as soon as they are eligible as the additional dose help prevent severe disease.
Dr. Rontgene Solante, a member of the government’s vaccine expert panel, said most of the critically ill patients with COVID-19 are unvaccinated, and there are COVID-19 patients who are fully vaccinated but have not received a booster shot.
“Doon talaga makikita mo ‘yung disparity between getting the severe infection and getting the mild infection,” he added.
[Translation: This is where you can see the disparity between getting the severe infection and getting the mild infection.]
Solante emphasized the importance of getting a booster shot amid the COVID-19 surge driven by the more transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
He reported that protection against COVID-19 can go up to as high as 93 percent with a third dose of vaccine, while effectiveness against hospitalization can go up to as high as 96 percent.
He also said the vaccine experts panel recommended to shorten the interval between the primary doses and booster shot from six months to three months amid the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
“We noticed that all data evaluated by the vaccine expert panel, the third dose of a vaccine, whether heterologous or homologous, added protection from Omicron variant,” he said.
