National Task Force (NTF) against Covid-19 special adviser Dr. Teodoro “Ted” Herbosa, on Sunday, April 17, once again reiterated the importance of getting vaccinated and boosted against Covid-19 amid the emergence of new subvariants and the lingering threat of waning immunity.

“Sa mga bagong variant ng Covid-19 na lumalabas, Omicron pa rin ito at malamang ay kagaya pa rin ito ng nakaraang Omicron pero syempre ang sinasabi nila ang mga sub variant na ito ay 10 times more infectious. Yun lang, ng pag-iingat. Kailangan magpa-booster, magpabakuna, at tuluy-tuloy na maghanda kung papasok man ito sa Pilipinas (With the emerging variants of Covid-19, it is still Omicron and it is probably still the same, but of course, they say that these sub variants are 10 times more infectious. That is why we need to be cautious. We need to get boosted, vaccinated, and be constantly prepared if it enters the Philippines),” said Herbosa in an interview over DZBB.

Meanwhile, in order to encourage the unvaccinated population to get inoculated, Herbosa said that the national government has been implementing house-to-house vaccinations and it also expanded its existing vaccination drives in selected drugstores in the Philippines.

These initiatives, according to Herbosa, likewise aim to increase the number of boosted Filipinos. The Department of Health’s National Covid-19 Vaccination Dashboard showed that only 12,018,418 individuals in the country have so far been boosted against the disease as of March 30.

Apart from getting vaccinated and boosted, Herbosa underscored the importance of wearing a face mask to prevent the occurence of another Covid-19 surge.

“Very important pa rin magsuot ng mask. Kasi ‘yung mask ang sa transmission o hawaan, at ‘yung bakuna ang pang-prevent sa serious illness (It is still very important to wear a mask. Masks prevent the transmission of the virus, while vaccines prevent serious illness due to the virus),” Herbosa added.

On second booster dose

The country’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the provision of second booster dose for selected and immunocompromised individuals in the Philippines.

“Hinihintay lang natin na maglabas ang National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) ng implementing rules and regulation kung paano makakakuha ng second booster shot at kung sino ang dapat bigyan (We are just waiting for the NVOC to issue the implementing rules and regulations on how to get and who should be given the second booster shot),” said Herbosa.

However, the health expert added that the second booster dose will not be provided for the “general population.”

“Para sa mga naghihintay ng second booster, hindi lahat ay naaprubahan. Hindi naman general population. Sa senior citizen, immunocompromised, at sa mga health workers . ‘Yung mga naka-expose talaga (For those waiting for the second booster, not everyone are eligible to get one. It wouldn’t be given to the general population. Only senior citizens, immunocompromised, health workers, and those who are really exposed to the virus will be allowed to get one),” he furthered.