Former Philippine College of Physicians president Dr. Maricar Limpin on Thursday, May 30 said the medical community is advocating for annual vaccinations against Covid-19.
In an ANC interview, Limpin emphasized that the medical community expects a flu-like vaccination for Covid-19 that would need to be administered annually.
"For now, what we expect is something like the flu that occurs every year, we need to have a flu vaccine," Limpin said in a mix of English and Filipino.
She explained that similar to the flu, which tends to mutate, the vaccine available around this time in 2024 will be tailored to the strain that was prevalent last year.
"So, just like this, we are currently facing the FliRT variant that was observed in the last part of 2023. Therefore, a vaccine can be developed, which will actually be used this year," Limpin said.
"We're hoping all of us in the medical community, especially our pediatric doctors and primary care practitioners, want vaccines that can protect the people. Especially the elderly, those with comorbidities, or those who are immunocompromised," she added.
Meanwhile, the expert said that based on the studies, "we can still get protection from the vaccine that was made last year (2023)."
On May 23, infectious disease expert Rontgene Solante said that these new variants "are no longer protected" by the first set of vaccines that the public received.
"In fact, there are reformulated vaccines, updated Covid vaccines, but they are not available here in the Philippines," he said.
READ: Expert allays public fears on new Covid ‘variants under monitoring’
Regarding the new set of Covid variants that are also known as the "FliRT," Limpin said that "you can still get infected with them, but not as quickly as with the previous Covid-19 variants."
"Especially Omicron, which spreads quite fast. Although most cases are not severe. Unlike the Delta variant, that's the difference," she said.
"The Delta variant spreads much faster, like in just a matter of seconds, you can get infected. And then if you get sick, it's often more severe," she added.