Booster jabs are necessary, a vaccine expert reiterated on Monday, July 25.
Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP) Chairperson Dr. Nina Gloriani, on Monday morning urged the public to get boosted against Covid-19, stressing that two vaccine doses are not enough to prevent the critical form of Covid-19.
“May proteksyon kayo kapag kayo ay nagpabakuna, especially the booster. Ang data ngayon ay nagsasabi na hindi enough ang dalawang doses. ay nakakatulong nang malaki sa mga proteksyon against the severe form of Covid-19 (You have protection when you get vaccinated, especially the booster. The data now says that two doses are not enough. Booster jabs help a lot in the protection against the severe form of Covid-19),” said Gloriani in a “Laging Handa” public briefing.
Gloriani stated this amid the growing concerns over the new sublineage of Omicron called BA.2.75 also known as Centaurus. It was first detected in India in May and has now spread to over 10 countries including the United States, Britain, Germany, The Netherlands, and Australia.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it was still “too early” to determine how severe BA.2.75 was. Despite this, Gloriani explained that amid the rise of new sub variants, the country’s goal is still to reduce the burden of the health care system and prevent the overwhelming number of Covid-19-related admissions and deaths in the Philippines.
“Ayaw din naman nating magkaroon ng mild Covid-19, pero mas importante siguro na maintindihan natin na itong mga variants na ito ay nag-eevolve para ma-dodge ang ating immunity. Yung mga bakuna na meron tayo sa ngayon ay nakakatulong sa proteksyon against the critical form of Covid-19 (We also do not want to have mild Covid-19, but maybe it’s more important that we understand that these variants are evolving to dodge our immunity. The vaccines that we have now help protect against the critical form of Covid-19),” she explained.
“Ang iiwasan po natin ay yung magkaroon ng maraming severe cases ng Covid-19. Tuloy lang ang ating minimum public health standards alongside the vaccine (What we want to avoid is having many severe cases of Covid-19. Our adherence to the minimum public health standards shall continue alongside the vaccine),” Gloriani added.
The Department of Health’s (DOH) National Covid-19 Vaccination Dashboard showed that as of July 24, only 15,934,251 individuals in the country have so far been boosted against the disease.