The Taguig City government started giving booster shots to fully vaccinated healthcare workers on Wednesday, Nov. 17.
It was held at the vaccination hub at Samsung Hall in SM Aura at Bonifacio Global City in Bgy. Fort Bonifacio.
“Salute to Taguig City Government for being one of the first cities to give booster shots to health workers. Thank you, Mayor Lino Cayetano,” nurse Jeanette Reynoso, head of the dialysis center, posted on Facebook after getting her booster shot.
According to the World Health Organization, “Booster doses are administered to a vaccinated population that has completed a primary vaccination series (currently one or two doses of COVID-19 vaccine depending on the product) when, with time, the immunity and clinical protection has fallen below a rate deemed sufficient in that population. The objective of a booster dose is to restore vaccine effectiveness from that deemed no longer sufficient.”
The Department of Health said healthcare workers may get their booster shots six months after receiving their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. For the one-shot Janssen vaccine, the interval is three months.
Health Sec. Francisco Duque III said healthcare workers can choose the same vaccine brand (homologous) that they originally received for their booster shot or opt for a different one (heterologous) from the recommended brand mixing by the Food and Drug Administration.
“Ang guidelines na hawak ko ngayon malinaw na pwede kang homologous, pwede kang heterologous. Ang homologous kung ano ‘yung una mong bakuna nakumpleto na tinanggap, ‘yung booster dose mo pwede. Pwede ring heterologous. Sabi ng FDA, kung ang tinanggap mo Astrazeneca, Pfizer o Moderna, pwede kang mag mix and match sa booster dose,” said Duque.
For those who received Sinovac as their primary vaccine, their booster shot can be Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, or Moderna.
For Pfizer, it is Pfizer, AstraZeneca or Moderna, and for AstraZeneca, it can be AstraZeneca, Pfizer, or Moderna,
For Moderna, it is Moderna, AstraZeneca or Pfizer, and for Sputnik V, the recommended is AstraZeneca, Pfizer, or Moderna.
For those who got the one-shot Janssen vaccine, the recommended booster is AstraZeneca, Pfizer, or Moderna.
Duque warned that based on FDA guidelines, mRNA COVID-19 vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna cannot be mixed with traditional vaccines like SInovac.
“Be mindful, hangga't maaari huwag paghaluin ‘yung mRNA na bagong plataporma ng bakuna tulad ng Pfizer with the traditional platform katulad ng Sinovac,” said Duque.
According to Duque, there are about 1.6 million to 1.7 million healthcare workers in the country who will be given booster shots.
As of Nov. 16, 737,794 individuals have received the first dose of the vaccine in Taguig while 656,285 have been fully vaccinated, or 75 percent of the city's total population of 872,980.