The country's health experts are still not yet recommending the use of booster shots for those fully vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Department of Health (DOH) said.
There is still insufficient evidence that booster doses are needed, said DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.
“According to our vaccine experts panel (VEP) and all expert panel of the DOH, hindi pa natin nirerekomenda ang (we are still not recommending) booster doses because there is still incomplete evidence,” said Vergeire.
Vergeire said that they are still awaiting the results of the study being conducted by the Department of Science and Technology on booster doses and the mixing and matching of different COVID-19 vaccine brands.
“This is about a study evaluating the safety and immunogenicity of mixing different COVID-19 vaccines and vaccine platforms among Filipino people. Kasama dito yung sa booster doses (This includes booster doses),” she said.
The duration of the DOST’s study is about 18 months, said Vergeire.
“Ang sabi nila sa amin kung sakali tayo ay magdedesisyon na magkaroon ng booster doses, maybe it's going to take months pa before we can recommend (They told us that in case we decide to have booster doses, maybe it's going to take months before we can recommend),” she said.
Another factor would be that many eligible Filipinos have yet to receive a COVID-19 shot, said Vergeire.
“We like to consider equity at this point kasi marami pa ang kababayan natin na hindi pa nababakunahan (because many of our citizens have not been vaccinated yet),” said Vergeire.
“Kapag inumpisahan po natin itong booster dosing, baka hindi magkaroon ang iba nating kababayan ng bakunang kailangan din naman nila (If we start this booster dosing, it is likely that some of our citizens may not receive a vaccine--which they need as well),” she added.
Vaccine expert panel member Dr. Rontgene Solante made the same statement.
“Sa ngayon (For now), we will just have to wait for data, we will have to monitor. Hindi pa kailangan natin ang booster shot sa mga fully vaccinated individual (We don’t yet need booster shots for fully vaccinated individuals),” he said
He also said that right now, all vaccines available in the country are effective against the variants of COVID-19 virus, particularly on the Delta variant.
"At this point in time, maski kulang ang data sa ibang bakuna pero (even though some vaccines still lack data, but) we’re still confident that this variant will not significantly affect the efficacy of all the vaccines that are currently being used in our vaccination rollout here in the Philippines," he said.
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