If vaccines have expiration dates, then vaccine cards should do too.

This was the call of medical experts to the government in a bid to hasten booster vaccinations across the country due to waning immunity and amid reports of new variants of Covid-19.

In a forum organized by the Philippine College of Physicians (PCP), several medical and data experts joined the call of Presidential Adviser on Entrepreneurship Jose 'Joey' Concepcion IIII to increase booster vaccinations to help make the country protected against another possible surge.

"We need to have updated immunization cards. The tendency is for Filipinos to forget, and I think this could be a good start, even for the other diseases," PCP President Dr. Maricar Limpin said.

"Having a separate card for the booster only emphasizes the importance of getting the booster," she added.

This was echoed by Dr. Nina Gloriani, chairperson of the government's Vaccine Expert Panel, who also emphasized the importance of getting a booster shot.

"Walang forever sa bakuna (Vaccines don't last forever)... The data is clear. We need to update the vaccination cards. Vaccine cards have to have validity," she said.

During the forum, Gloriani shared a data showing that booster shots or third doses not only restore but also raise the effectiveness of vaccines against so-called "variants of concern."

Gloriani also expressed concern on the low uptake of booster shots in the country, as only 12 million have received their booster shots out of the 65.6 million fully vaccinated Filipinos. She added that the Philippines has one of the lowest booster rates in Asia at 10.58 per 100 people.

Among the factors that the experts identified in contributing to the low booster uptake is the complacency among Filipinos, as the country is currently experiencing a downward trend in Covid-19 infections.

"It’s normal, you tend to be complacent when things are back to normal. There are many things we can do. We can restrict mobility or give incentives. We have done it in the past, people have criticized it, but it seems to have been effective," Concepcion said.

"We can’t force people to take the vaccine, but we can do what we have been doing in the past: restrict movement," he added.

Concepcion has been pushing to increase booster vaccinations in the country through several measures such as the redefinition of fully vaccinated status to include a booster dose; booster card requirements for travel, work, and overall movement in place of the vaccination card; a 60-day deadline, or around until June this year, to get booster shots; and the proposed use of booster cards in VAXCERTPH as proof of vaccination to address current backlogs and prevent proliferation of fake documents and vaccination cards.

In the same forum, OCTA Research fellow Guido David shared projections on a possible resurgence in cases by late April if the numbers of fully vaccinated people who are getting their boosters remain low.

With this, Concepcion emphasized the urgency of increasing booster uptake in the country to also help the economy bounce back.

"If we wait longer, the consequences will be huge," Concepcion said.

"If we get hit with a surge in June, which is one of the strongest months for the economy when schooling generates a lot of activity, employees have come back to the office, and there is more mobility, if we don’t take the booster shots, then that wall of immunity will weaken or even collapse and we will have to go back to those days that we have Alert Level 3 or Alert Level 4," he added.

The GoNegosyo founder also raised the possibility of stagflation, where people cannot afford to buy goods because of higher prices, causing the economy to stall.

"Waning immunity means a waning economy. It’s simply something we cannot afford," he said.