Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 4) — The country’s vaccine expert panel (VEP) has recommended giving second booster doses to senior citizens and immunocompromised individuals, VEP member Dr. Rontgene Solante and National Task Force against COVID-19 adviser Ted Herbosa confirmed on Friday.
Herbosa said the recommendation is now being reviewed by the Department of Health-Technical Advisory Group and the All Experts’ Group.
If they agree with VEP’s recommendation, it will be elevated to the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the final approval, he added.
“Hintayin na lang natin kung maaprubahan ito ng ating IATF para maimplementa na [Let’s wait if the IATF will approve it so we can implement it],” Herbosa said during the government-hosted Laging Handa briefing.
Currently, the government only allows one booster dose for adults 2 to 3 months after they complete their primary series of two shots.
Government data shows that 6.4 million senior citizens are now fully vaccinated, but only 1.8 million have received their first booster shot.
Meanwhile, only 2 million out of the 9.2 million fully vaccinated persons with comorbidities have gotten their booster shots to increase their protection against COVID-19, according to the same data.
CNN Philippines’ Lara Tan and Carolyn Bonquin contributed to this report.
