BY GERARD NAVAL and JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR
THE Department of Health (DOH) yesterday said 600,000 fully vaccinated healthcare workers (HCWs) are qualified to receive their booster shots for the month of November.
Speaking at the virtual townhall forum with HCWs, Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said the rest of the HCW population are targeted for booster shots in the coming months.
“It is a moving target. From December to January,” Cabotaje said.
“Based on our data, we have about 600,000 of our HCWs that are due in November. It starts today for those who are ready. We hope we can finish many of you by month’s end,” she also said.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said at least two million doses of vaccines have been readied for the 1.6 million to 1.7 million healthcare workers in the country.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said healthcare workers are being prioritized for booster shots mainly due to “operational considerations.”
Vergeire added that “HCWs are organized as many are in health facilities. There are only a few who are not affiliated with healthcare institutions. Thus, we can facilitate this rollout faster.”
The health official also said medical frontliners “need to be more protected because they are at higher risks.”
Under DepartAment Memorandum No. 2021-0484, all healthcare workers shall be eligible to receive a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine as booster dose.
Approved for use as booster shots are COVID-19 vaccines of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Sinovac, and AstraZeneca. The booster shot may either be a homologous (same brand) or a heterologous dose (different brand) from the vaccine brand used in their primary series.
“The Priority Group A1 shall be given the option to choose whether he/she shall receive homologous or a heterologous booster dose, depending on the availability of vaccine brands in the vaccination site,” said the DOH.
For homologous dose, the vaccine brand used in the primary series will be similar to the booster shot that will be given to the vaccinees.
Sinovac may only be given as an additional shot for those who received two doses of Sinovac, while those who received the Chinese brand as their first two doses can receive a booster using another brand.
Same brand vaccine is not yet available for those that got Sputnik V and Janssen in their primary doses.
For heterologous dose, the DOH said AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Moderna doses may be used for those that were given Sinovac, Sputnik V, and Janssen for their primary doses.
Pfizer and Moderna shots may also be given to those with AstraZeneca shots, AstraZeneca and Moderna for those with Pfizer shots, and Pfizer and AstraZeneca for those with Moderna shots.
The DOH said all healthcare workers that got Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Sinovac, Gamaleya, and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines may get their booster shots at least six months after completion of the primary dose series.
On the other hand, those that received Janssen doses for their primary vaccines may get inoculation with booster shots at least three months after completion of the primary dose series.
Galvez, at the ceremonies for the administration of booster shots for health care workers held at the National Kidney Institute, said the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has included Sputnik Light in the list of vaccines for booster or third shots in the event that the country’s purchase of the single dose vaccines proceeds. He said for now, the country uses the two-dose Sputnik V.
Sputnik Light can be used as a booster shot regardless of the vaccine brand of the first two shots or primary series.
The DOH said booster shots for healthcare workers shall be made available in all health facilities designated as COVID-19 vaccination sites.
It added that members of vaccination teams that are assigned in registration areas shall be tasked to ensure that vaccine recipients have their vaccination card showing the completion of 2nd dose for a 2-dose vaccine regimen and one dose for single dose vaccine.
Meanwhile, Galvez said the administration of booster or third shots for persons with comorbidities and senior citizens may start either next week or during the three-day National Vaccine Day from November 29 to December 1, depending on the issuance of the guidelines for the use of third or booster shots.
He said the guidelines for the booster or third shot for people with comorbidities and senior citizens is different from the guidelines issued for the health care workers.
He said at least 5 million doses of vaccines have been set aside for the booster shots of persons with comorbidities and senior citizens, adding that the country has enough supply of vaccines, with at least 57 million doses of vaccines in storage. To date, the country has already received 128.44 million doses of vaccines.
Vergeire said that part of the Phase 1 of the rollout of booster shots are the senior citizens (A2) and people with comorbidities (A3).
“For Phase 1 of the implementation, since EUA for boosters has been issued, we will commence with healthcare workers to be followed by senior citizens and people with comorbidities,” said Vergeire.
Cabotaje said they are already in the process of drafting the guidelines for the provision of booster doses for the A2 and A3 sectors.
NOVAVAX
FDA Director General Eric Domingo yesterday announced it has issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) to Covavax, the vaccine of Novavax, Inc., which is based in Maryland, USA.
“It is approved for the active immunization of individuals 18 years older above for the prevention of COVID-19,” said Domingo. The vaccine is to be given in two doses, at 0.5 ml each, and three to four weeks apart.
Domingo said the vaccine registered an 89.7 percent efficacy rate in terms of preventing COVID-19.
He also said that the clinical trials showed that the adverse events following immunization are very mild.
Domingo, during the Laging Handa public briefing, said Serum Institute of India applied for the EUA for Covovax.
With the EUA granted, the FDA chief said it won’t take long before the initial batches of Novavax doses arrive in the country.
“It is possible that we may be able to use this vaccine towards the end of the year or in the coming 2022,” said Domingo.
Aside from Novavax, other COVID-19 vaccines issued EUA in the Philippines are Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Sinovac, Sputnik V, Janssen, Bharat Biotech, and Moderna.
SHOW CAUSE ORDER
The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) may start issuing in the coming days show cause orders against local government units that are lagging behind in the vaccination of their constituents against COVID-19.
Interior undersecretary and spokesman Jonathan Malaya made the remarks two weeks after President Duterte threatened to punish local government officials for the slow pace of the government’s vaccination program.
“I would expect that in the next few days, we will have an announcement about that, we will be initially issuing show cause orders,” said Malaya, adding that the DILG is still in the process of validating information from the National Vaccine Operations Center as to the performance of LGUs in the vaccination program.
On November 2, President Duterte asked Año to impose necessary sanctions against LGUs and local chief executives who are not performing well in the vaccination drive.
Two days later, Año said some LGUs in Central Luzon and Calabarzon are under-performing in the vaccination effort.
Año has said Calabarzon vaccinated only 30 percent of its eligible population at that time though he did not say the vaccination rate of Central Luzon.
Meanwhile, Malaya said the government is hiring additional data encoders to help LGUs update their vaccination data. — With Victor Reyes
