Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 8) — The government is likely to approve the recommendation of the Vaccine Expert Panel to give a second booster shot for the elderly and people with weakened immune system, presidential adviser for COVID-19 pandemic Vince Dizon said on Tuesday.
Pending the final decision, he said the National Vaccination Operations Center is already finalizing the details of the implementation, which he said will happen “very soon.”
“We fully support the recommendation of the Vaccine Expert Panel. Importante ang [It is important] 4th shot for our elderly and immunocompromised,” he said in a media briefing.
NVOC chief Myrna Cabotaje added it may take a couple of weeks before the Department of Health-Technical Advisory Group and the All Experts’ Group can issue a decision. If they agree with the VEP recommendation, it will be elevated to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the final approval.
The Department of Health said it is recommending to administer the second booster dose four months after the first one.
“The administration of a second booster shot for the senior citizens and immunocompromised individuals is to further increase their protection against COVID-19. The said fourth dose is recommended to be administered four months after the first booster dose. However, the DOH is still seeking concurrence among expert groups and its implementation is still being studied,” it said.
It added that VEP’s recommendation includes administration of a fourth dose, or second booster shot, to health workers, airport personnel and similar professions.
Currently, the government only allows one booster shot for adults two to three months after they completed their primary series of a single-dose or two-dose COVID-19 vaccine.
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.
