San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora urged the Department of Health (DOH) to allow other priority groups in the country to receive the second booster shot against Covid-19 as the Philippines detected other variants of the virus that are said to be more transmissible and even have the ability to evade the vaccines' protective properties.
"Ako po ay nananawagan sa DOH na sana po aralin na at baka pwedeng payagan na po kami kumuha ng second booster tutal madami naman po tayong supply ng bakuna kesa ma-expire po ito at masayang, sana eh ibakuna nalang bilang second booster sa mga nakapag first booster na (I am urging the DOH to please study and allow us to receive the second booster especially now that we have abundant supply of the vaccine instead of letting it go to waste)," Zamora said in an interview with GMA.
"Syempre at the end of the day, ang DOH pa din ang nakakaalam po nyan ngunit isang bagay lang po tong naisip ko dahil nakikita natin sa balita na madaming naeexpire na mga bakuna, kaya baka pwedeng gamitin na ito bilang second booster (Of course at the end of the day, the DOH is still the one that will decide on it. This is only one of the ways that I can think of in avoiding the wastage of the vaccines especially now that we can see that a lot of vaccines have already expired. Hence my plea to allow the vaccines to be used as the second booster)," he added.
Seeing the positive effects of the Covid-19 vaccine, the mayor underscored the importance of the vaccine in ensuring the safety of not just his constituents but also the public.
“Well, we can see still that even fully vaccinated individuals get Covid, but what we should look at really is the severity of their condition. Let’s not focus just on the number of cases but let’s look at how many are severe, how many are critical, how many are mild to asymptomatic,” Zamora said in an Oct. 15 interview.
“Our hospital utilization rate is also low, where majority of Covid-19 patients in our hospitals are actually residents from other cities and provinces,” he added.
“We have gone to the extent of going house-to-house for our booster vaccination. In fact, I have acted as an ambassador for the vaccination program. I believe that as mayor, it is my duty to push for a high vaccination rate. This is something we have achieved. We remain to be number one in terms of number of fully vaccinated individuals in relation to our target population and also in the administration of the first booster,” the mayor said.
In a press briefing in August, DOH OIC Maria Rosario Vergeire opposed the idea of administering a second booster shot to all fully-vaccinated individuals in the country.
"Sinasabi nila kasi, para maubos na lang ang bakuna, payagan na ang rest of the population for the second booster shot (They are saying we have to use all the vaccines by administering it as second booster shot to the rest of the population)," Vergeire said.
"We base our decisions on science and evidence. We need to ensure and protect the health of Filipinos. And by saying that, hindi po kami magbibigay ng bakuna sa ating mga kababayan ng walang sapat na ebidensya (we will not give vaccines to our countrymen without sufficient evidence)," she added.
The emergency use authorization issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) only allows individuals who are 50 years old and above, as well as those from 18 to 49 age group that have comorbidities, to receive a second booster against Covid-19.