Gov't eyeing 4th COVID-19 vaccine dose, says Galvez

The Philippines may extend the giving of primary doses of COVID-19 vaccine to up to fourth dose, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said Tuesday.

Interviewed on Super Radyo dzBB, Galvez quoted the Vaccine Expert Panel as saying that people might need five doses of the vaccine to reach full immunity against COVID-19.

"Sabi nga ng Vaccine Expert Panel, ang talagang [kailangan] natin para at least meron tayong complete [protection], kailangan five doses," said Galvez, also National Task Force Against COVID-19 chief implementer.

"Ibig sabihin, meron tayong three or four primaries and then 'yung booster na parang tinatawag na final shot."

(As the Vaccine Expert Panel said, we need five doses to be able to get complete protection. Three or four of which are primary doses and another one is for the booster dose or the final shot.)

Currently, the government is administering third doses to senior citizens and immunocompromised individuals, while booster shots are given to those who completed the primary doses -- single for Johnson & Johnson's vaccine, double for the other bands.

Galvez said for the year 2022, the government is still the one that would avail the vaccines from manufacturers and these will be given to the public for free.

According to DOH’s national COVID-19 vaccination dashboard, 52,849,101 individuals have completed their doses against COVID-19, while 57,822,417 have received their first dose as of Monday.

Meanwhile, there were 3,577,703 booster doses that have been administered to those eligible.

Galvez said the country still has enough vaccine supply for those who have yet to receive their primary doses.

"Nakita namin 'yung 100 million na nasa ating warehouses, ito ay kasyang-kasya pa sa ating more or less 28 to 30 million na hindi pa nababakunahan, plus 'yung 25 million na for booster,” he said.

(The 100 million doses in our warehouses are enough for the more or less 28-30 million unvaccinated individuals, plus the 25 million for the booster shots.)

However, since the government is targeting to administer vaccines for children aged 5 to 11 years in February and 0 to 4 in April, the country will need to procure more vaccine supply.

Galvez assured that the reformulated vaccines for the younger age groups are safe. He added that the government is also preparing for the administration of boosters for the 12 to 17 age group.

“Once na nakita natin na nag-boosters na rin ‘yung mga ibang bansa sa kanilang 12 to 17, ay magbo-boosters na rin po tayo,” he said.

(Once we see that other countries are already giving boosters to their 12- to 17-year-old population, we will also do the same.)

'No vax, no labas'

Galvez said restricting the mobility of the unvaccinated in Metro Manila has yielded positive results so far, thus the Inter-Agency Task Force is encouraging other local government units to follow the same policy.

"Nakita po namin na naging maganda ‘yung resulta ng memorandum circular at ito ay pinalabas din sa Region IV-A at sa Region III," he said.

(We have seen that this memorandum circular has yielded good results and it was also released in Region IV-A and Region III.)

He said that this policy may encourage more people to get vaccinated, especially with the threat of Omicron, now considered the dominant variant in the country. 

The Metro Manila Council earlier approved that unvaccinated Metro Manila residents would be ordered to stay at home unless they are buying and accessing essential goods and services while the National Capital Region is under Alert Level 3.

Aside from Metro Manila, its adjacent provinces Bulacan, Cavite, and Rizal, and several other areas were put under Alert Level 3 until January 15.

Under Alert Level 3, several establishments are allowed to operate at 30% indoor venue capacity only for fully vaccinated individuals and 50% outdoor venue capacity, provided that all employees are fully vaccinated.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Monday said that the Philippines has been classified as a critical risk for COVID-19 amid the sudden spike of infections believed to be driven by the Omicron variant.

The DOH has so far confirmed 43 Omicron variant cases in the country.  —KBK, GMA News