Cabinet Secretary and Acting Presidential Spokesperson Karlo Nograles assured the public that the country will have ample vaccine supply for booster shots against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) next year.
Nograles, in a virtual press conference Friday, Dec. 10, said the funds for the booster shots will come in the form of a P45-billion allocation under the proposed 2022 national budget, or General Appropriations Act (GAA).
"Yes ," the Palace official said in response to a journalist's question.
"Kung hindi magbabago sa General Appropriations Act no or sa—right now kasi nagba-bicam na ngayon ang House of Representatives at ang Senado to finalize the proposed budget for 2022. Pero doon sa sinubmit po namin sa Kongreso na proposed budget natin for the vaccines for next year, P45 billion po ang nakalagay diyan ( The House of Representatives and Senate are now holding bicam meetings on the proposed General Appropriations Act for 2022. And if there are no changes to the proposed budget that Malacañang submitted to Congress, the allocation for vaccines next year will be P45 billion)," he said.
"We await ano iyong magiging (the) final version ng (of the) budget as approved by the Bicameral Conference Committee ng Kongreso (of Congress) and I hope that intact pa po iyong budget na P45 billion para po sa karagdagang vaccines for 2022 (I hope that the P45-billion budget for the purchase of additional vaccines in 2022 would remain intact)," he added.
Nograles, a former Davao congressman, used to chair the House Appropriations Committee--the main panel between both chambers of Congress that handles the passage of the national budget.
A booster shot is an additional dose of the COVID-19 vaccine taken by a person around six months following the completion of his or her initial, "full" dosage of the vaccine. Full vaccination could mean one or two shots, depending on vaccine brand.
Health authorities have said that the protection enjoyed by a fully vaccinated person wanes after the sixth month, thus the need for booster shots.
On Thursday, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion organized a meeting between private sector players and officials of vaccine manufacturer AstraZeneca in order to facilitate the procurement of booster shots for local workers in 2022.
The Philippines began its mass inoculation program against COVID-19 on March 1, 2021.