Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 6) — An infectious diseases expert on Friday said the government should be able to secure a supply of bivalent vaccines as soon as possible amid the threat of the Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 which is seen to be the most transmissible subvariant.
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“We need an updated vaccine and when we talk about updated vaccine it should now be the bivalent because of its additional, broader coverage against Omicron subvariants,” Dr. Rontgene Solante, chief of the Adult Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Unit, San Lazaro Hospital, told CNN Philippines’ The Source.
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Bivalent vaccines contain the original virus strain and a component of the Omicron variant.
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In December, the Department of Health (DOH) confirmed that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had granted emergency use authorization for bivalent vaccines of Moderna and Pfizer.
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The department earlier said it hopes that the bivalent shots will arrive by early 2023.
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Citing initial reports, Solante said XBB.1.5 can evade vaccines and antibodies developed from infection. Some experts even consider this as the most transmissible Omciron subvariant so far, he added.
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Currently, the country has yet to report a case of the XBB.1.5, which has been driving the surge of infections in other countries like the United States.
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Solante warned there are chances XBB.1.5 is already in the Philippines given the more relaxed border restrictions.
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He noted that in countries that have confirmed cases of the subvariant, those infected include the vaccinated and those who previously caught the virus.
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Despite this, there are still no indications that it can cause severe cases of COVID-19, Solante noted.
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“The 29 countries reported by WHO, they’re currently monitoring their hospitalization rates, it seems that it’s not significantly affected, but people are getting infected, getting the infection, getting symptomatic but not to the point of getting more severe infection,” he explained.
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The expert said the Delta variant is still the worse in terms of severity of symptoms.
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“We only had 2-3 months of the Delta variant in 2021 and yet our hospitalization rate was really overwhelmed. Compared to Omicron, we started with that in December (2021) and until now for almost already more than a year, we have not had that experience anymore of overwhelmed utilization of our hospitals,” Solante said.
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