NTF adviser favors proposal to put expiry on vax cards to ramp up booster inoculation

A government adviser on Wednesday backed the proposal of Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion to put an expiry date on the validity of vaccination cards and replace them with booster cards to encourage more people to get their booster shots amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

During a Laging Handa briefing, National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 medical adviser Dr. Ted Herbosa noted that while the country currently has a “good vaccination record,” there are only about 11.8 million individuals who have received their boosters. 

“Gusto ko ‘yung recommendation niya (Concepcion) na sometime around… lagyan daw natin ng deadline na maibigay ‘yung booster para magkaron tayo ng parang panahon na ite-check na pati ‘yung booster shot mo kung updated. Actually, maganda ‘yun para ma-encourage at ma-incentivize ang mamamayan na magpa-booster na,” he said.

(I like his recommendation that we should set a deadline to give the booster so that we can also have time to check if the people’s booster shot is updated. Actually, that will be good to encourage and incentivize the people to take their booster shots.)

Aside that such an effort would ramp up the vaccination rate in the country, Herbosa said that it would also help the government administer the vaccines that are about to expire.

Concepcion earlier raised concern about the low booster uptake in the country and suggested redefining the term "fully vaccinated" as those who have received a booster dose.

This was however rebuffed by experts, according to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, saying it is inappropriate to do so, considering that institutions like Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did not redefine their meaning of “fully vaccinated.”

2nd booster shot

Meanwhile, in a Balitanghali interview, Health Undersecretary and National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) chairperson Dr. Myrna Cabotaje said that the Philippine Food and Drug Authority (FDA) and the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC) need to give the green light before the government starts administering the second booster shot or fourth dose to the public.

This came after the United States FDA approved a second booster dose of the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech and Moderna Inc vaccines for people aged 50 and older, at least four months after their previous dose.

This fourth round of shot is said to offer more protection against severe disease and hospitalization, given data showing waning immunity and the risks posed by the Omicron variant.

Cabotaje earlier said the NVOC is eyeing to provide the second booster shots by the last week of April, focusing on frontliners, senior citizens, and the immunocompromised.

“Mga 30 million pa ‘yung kailangan pa nating mabigyan ng booster. So, nagaagam-agam kasi complacent na sila na tama na ‘yung kanilang two doses na bakuna at bumababa na ‘yung mga kaso,” she said.

(We still need to give booster shots to about 30 million people. They are now complacent that their two doses of vaccine are enough and also considering that the number of COVID-19 cases is decreasing.)

The Department of Health said on Tuesday that the number of new COVID-19 cases may go down to 70 a day by the end of April if Filipinos continue to observe minimum public health standards, and the country maintains its current mobility patterns and vaccination rate.

The Philippines on Tuesday recorded the lowest daily COVID-19 case tally this year with 246 new infections, bringing the nationwide total cases to 3,677,616.—AOL, GMA News