7K to 13K immunocompromised seen to take 2nd booster doses on 1st day of rollout —NVOC

The National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) on Saturday said it is expecting that around 7,000 to 13,000 immunocompromised individuals will take their second COVID-19 booster doses during the first day of its rollout. 

"Sa first day, mga 7,000 to 13,000 ang nakikita nating magpapa-second booster na, at ikakasa natin sa buong bansa," NVOC chairperson and Health Undersecretary Dr. Myrna Cabotaje said at the Laging Handa briefing.

(During the first day, we are seeing around 7,000 to 13,000 immunocompromised persons who will take their second booster. We will roll it out throughout the whole country.)

The rollout of second COVID-19 booster for immunocompromised persons is set to begin on April 25 nationwide, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire announced on Friday.

The NVOC chairperson said earlier in the day on Dobol B TV that the country's supply of COVID-19 vaccines will be enough for the second booster shots of the immunocompromised.

Meanwhile, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Saturday said the government is assuring that the vaccines to be used for the second booster doses are safe.

"Sinisiguro natin ang kaligtasan ng mga bakuna bago payagan ang pagbibigay ng 2nd booster dose ng bakuna kontra COVID-19 dahil under EUA pa rin ang mga ito," Duque said in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB.

(We are assuring that the vaccines are safe before these will be used for the second booster dose against COVID-19 since these are still under emergency use authorization.)

Cabotaje said the Department of Health estimated that around 690,000 immunocompromised individuals have already received their third COVID-19 doses.

Meanwhile, the country is averaging at around 200,000 persons a day in vaccination.

"If we maintain about 250,000 a day until the end of April, we will look at about 1.5 to 2-M [individuals]. Our current 67.4 million fully vaccinated individuals will reach around 69 million," Cabotaje said.

The Philippines on Thursday registered a marked decrease in the number of daily coronavirus disease (COVID-19) tally in almost two years since the declaration of a pandemic with 134 new infections.

"Alam nating walang kasiguraduhan kung tataas o bababa. May mga assumptions tayo, kabilang sa pagkonsidera natin ang minimum public health standards at ang ating vaccine coverage," she said.

(We know there is no certainty whether the cases will rise or not. We have assumptions, those included in our considerations are the minimum public health standards and our vaccine coverage.)

The DOH is currently monitoring the following areas, although a slight increase in COVID-19 cases is not significant: Marinduque, Davao City, Butuan City, Surigao del Sur, Ilocos Norte, Kalinga, Batanes, Quirino, Catanduanes, Olongapo City, Tarlac City, Angeles City, and Eastern Samar.

While there is no common factor on the increase of COVID cases in the mentioned areas, Cabotaje said this might be due to influx of tourists, as well as campaign sorties ahead of Eleksyon 2022. —KG, GMA News