Philippines' COVID-19 booster uptake still low at 27% –Vergeire

The number of Filipinos who have received their COVID-19 booster shot remains low at 27% of the eligible population, Department of Health (DOH) officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said Wednesday.

Based on the DOH’s national COVID-19 vaccination dashboard, 21.2 million Filipinos have already received the booster shot as of January 15 — a far cry from the 73.8 million who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

However, Vergeire pointed out that the increase of the booster uptake to 27% was already an improvement from last year's data wherein 23% of the eligible population were boosted.

"Medyo mabagal pa rin po pero at least nagi-improve tayo at sana mas makapaghikayat pa rin tayo ng ating kababayan na magpabakuna," she said in a radio interview.

(It's still a bit slow, but at least we're improving and I hope we can encourage more of our citizens to get vaccinated.)

"Mababa pa rin po. Talagang nakikita natin ang ating mga kababayan ay medyo back to normal na sila so talagang kami ay hanggang sa ngayon patuloy na naghihikayat sa ating mga kababayan para magpabakuna sila," she added.

(It's still low. We can really see that our countrymen are back to normal so we are really up to now continuing to encourage our countrymen to get vaccinated.)

Vergeire said Filipinos may still get their primary vaccine series and booster shots at primary care facilities, hospitals, and designated vaccination sites of local government units.

Bivalent vaccines

Pending the arrival of the bivalent COVID-19 jabs in the country, Vergeire stressed the benefits that these second generation vaccines may bring to the recipients, particularly against the more transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

She said the potential adverse reactions that people may get from the bivalent vaccines are just the same with the monovalent vaccines, citing information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

"Out of 550,000 na kasama doon sa cohort nila na 65 years old and older, merong nagkaroon ng stroke within the first 21 days na nabigyan na 130. Ito ang signal ng gobyerno ng Amerika para imbestigahan nila just for transparency. Based on the rapid study na ginawa ng US CDC at FDA, lumabas na ‘yung clinical risk for having stroke is very unlikely,” she said.

(Out of the 550,000 people aged 65 and older who were included in their cohort, there were 130 who had stroke within the first 21 days. This was the signal of the US government to investigate just for transparency. Based on the rapid study done by the US CDC and FDA, it appears that the clinical risk for having a stroke is very unlikely.)

"Ang adverse reactions, ang risks andiyan pero napakaliit po at mas mataas pa rin ang risk kung kayo ay magkakasakit ng COVID-19," she added.

(The adverse reactions and the risks are there but they are very minimal. The risk is still higher if you get sick with COVID-19.)

Before the year 2022 ended, Vergeire disclosed that the Food and Drug Administration has already issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the bivalent vaccines of Moderna and Pfizer.

The DOH is planning to make bivalent vaccines available in the country by the first quarter of 2023. Vergeire said they expect that the donations from other countries will arrive earlier than those procured by the national government. —KBK, GMA Integrated News