Presidential adviser says booster shots likely to be quarterly

The private sector is already working on procuring reformulated COVID-19 vaccines for booster shots targeted to be given in the second half of 2022, presidential adviser for entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said Wednesday.

During the Laging Handa briefing, Concepcion said he has already coordinated with officials of pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca for the possible procurement of additional shots for boosters.

The private sector hopes to formalize the order by February next year, to make the shots available to the public as boosters starting July 2022.

“Hopefully by March we should have completed all these booster shots, so ang mangyayari dito [so what will happen is] every three months magbo-booster shot tayo [we will hand out booster shots] so that will be about three to four vaccines to be given annually,” Concepcion said.

“In the private sector we’re already preparing for the next order of AstraZeneca in the second semester of 2022, so lahat ‘yan hinahanda na namin ‘yung mga bakuna natin [we are already preparing our vaccines], because that is the weapon we will use even in Omicron,” he added.

Concepcion noted, however, that while large firms have the financial capacity to procure vaccines for their employees, this would not be the case for small and medium enterprises.

“I think the government will still pay for bulk of our health initiatives kaya mahirap isarado yung economy [which is why it is difficult to close the economy]. Paano ‘yung revenue ng government? Walang magbabayad ng tax. [What will happen to government revenues? Nobody will pay taxes.] To sustain this war against COVID we need the resources to be able to fund,” he said.

Concepcion also noted that there is currently no need to ease the restrictions to Alert Level 1 from the current Alert Level 2, as mobility is expected to decline in the first quarter given the decline in spending capacity following the holidays.

“I remain optimistic that 2022 will be a much better year. We’re much more prepared, we have the vaccines, we have the structure, we know what to do — private sector and government are working well together — so let’s just continue and accelerate and vax to the max,” he said.

Latest data available from the Department of Health show that the Philippines has administered a total of 107.277 million doses as of Tuesday, December 28. These include 57.915 million first doses; 48.647 fully vaccinated; and 1.614 million booster shots. —KBK, GMA News