Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 1) — Getting a third dose of the vaccine or the first booster shot against COVID-19 is “almost essential,” especially with the threatening new variants, a health expert said Tuesday.
Speaking to CNN Philippines’ The Final Word, Dr. Edsel Salvaña of the Department of Health (DOH) Technical Advisory Group advised the public that getting a booster shot will be beneficial to avoid getting infected with the new variants or subvariants of COVID-19.
The health expert shared the phrase “up-to-date vaccination” as some form of a new concept to recognizing the current state of the pandemic situation.
Dr. Salvaña revealed that there is currently a big backlog of people who should be getting their first booster shot. He said that a big part of the populace think that getting two vaccines is worth-saying one is fully-vaccinated, hence, many people no longer aim receiving a third dose.
However, in light of the emerging new variants of COVID-19, such as the BA.4, BA.5, and the Omicron subvariant BA.2.12, which was recently detected in the country, Salvaña said that the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine may probably wane.
“Because of these new variants, we’re seeing lower efficacies not just in preventing infection, but even about a 15% drop in protection against severe disease, at least for Omicron and for Delta,” Salvaña explained.
“So nowadays, the recommendation is– because predominantly, it’s all Omicron that we’re seeing, it’s a good idea it’s almost essential to get that first booster,” he added.
Earlier, the Health department said that some 2 million COVID-19 doses are set to expire by the end of June. It’s partly a reason why unboosted individuals are urged to get inoculated.
READ: DOH says some 2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses will expire by end of June
Meanwhile, the national government has started giving second booster shots to those who are 60 years old and above, and the immunocompromised.
