With the continuous arrival of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines, the national government may soon include other priority categories that will be allowed to receive booster shots.
This was revealed by Assistant Secretary Wilben Mayor, head of National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 strategic communications on current operations, during the arrival of 301,860 doses of Pfizer vaccine that were donated by the United States through the COVAX facility on Monday night, Nov. 15.
“Ang priority of course ‘yong frontline workers or healthcare workers and, at the same time, seniors. So far iyon muna ang pinag-u-usapan doon. But with the arrival ng maraming vaccines dito sa ating bansa, definitely baka maabot na rin ang category ng iba nating mga kababayan (The priority of course are the frontline workers or healthcare workers and, at the same time, the seniors. So far, that’s what they are talking about. But with the arrival of more vaccines here in our country, definitely we can probably reach other categories of our citizens),” Mayor told reporters at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3.
Last month, Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III signed the recommendation of the Health and Technology Assessment Council (HTAC) to administer booster doses to healthcare workers (A1) and senior citizens (A2) before the end of 2021.
But the DOH later clarified that the HTAC only provided interim recommendations to guide the sectoral planning for the rollout of booster shots.
The agency said it still had to wait for the assessment of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the amendment of emergency use authorization (EUA) and the release of the World Health Organization Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (WHO SAGE).
While waiting for the FDA and WHO SAGE’s position, Mayor said the excess supply of vaccines in the country may prompt the DOH to include other priority categories such as individuals with co-morbidities (A3), economic frontliners (A4), and indigent population (A5) among others to be given booster shots.
“Iyon na lang naman ang hinihintay ng DOH saka ng vaccine cluster (That’s what the DOH is waiting for and the vaccine cluster),” Mayor said, referring to the EUA amendment and final guidelines coming from the FDA and WHO SAGE.
These are expected to be released before the end of this month and Mayor assured the public that the administration of booster shots to priority categories will start within this year.
“Hindi naman tayo aabot next year. Nakaka-assure tayo na within this year (It will not take us next year. We can assure you that within this year),” he said.
Meanwhile, the vaccine supply has now reached 123,560,200 doses.
A total of 38,143,531 individuals have received their first dose while 31,570,463 have been fully vaccinated.
The fully vaccinated population represented 40.93 percent of the 77 million eligible population that the government aims to vaccinate by year-end to achieve herd immunity.