Vaccine protection does not last forever.
These were the words of Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP) Chairperson Dr. Nina Gloriani upon being asked why she stated that there should be a validity period in Covid-19 vaccination cards.
In an interview over One PH on Friday, April 8, Gloriani said that other countries have already embraced the inclusion of “validity period” in their Covid-19 vaccination cards.
“I think our vaccination cards should also have validity kasi sa ibang countries ay may validity ang mga vaccine certificate. Ang pinaka maiksi ay three months, five months, six months, may seven, at nine months. Ang pinaka mahaba ay one year (I think our vaccination cards should also have validity because in other countries vaccine certificates have validity. The shortest is three months, five months, six months, with seven, and nine months. The longest is one year),” said Gloriani.
“Why ? Kasi waning ang immunity. You have to update your vaccination status (Why is it important? Because our immunity is waning. You have to update your vaccination status),” she furthered.
It has been proven that Covid-19 vaccines wane after a while and one’s immunity against the disease begins to wear off at a certain time. At that point, a booster dose is needed to bring immunity levels back up.
While this, according to Gloriani, is just a mere suggestion, she said that Philippine College of Physicians (PCP) President Dr. Maricar Limpin supports the idea. She likewise mentioned that even vaccines for children or flu require booster doses.
“In a way, we do not call it expiry pero nagre-require ito ng booster after so many years (In a way, we do not call it expiry but it requires a booster after so many years),” said Gloriani.
Furthermore, Gloriani said that this could also encourage Filipinos to finally get boosted against the disease.
“Ang importante ay maintindihan ng mga tao na hindi forever ang vaccine protection kaya dapat aware tayo na after so many months — and generally it is about five to six months – ay nakita natin na talagang bumababa (The important thing is for people to understand that vaccine protection is not forever so we should be aware that after so many months – and generally it is about five to six months – we have seen that immunity really go down),” she reiterated.
The Department of Health’s (DOH) National Covid-19 Vaccination Dashboard showed that as of March 30, only 12,018,418 Filipinos have so far been boosted against the disease, while 65,885,048 individuals have received two doses of Covid-19 vaccines.