2nd COVID-19 boosters to be made available to general population — DOH

Department of Health (DOH) officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire on Wednesday announced that the general population would now be allowed to receive the second COVID-19 booster shots.

At a press conference, Vergeire said the DOH is only waiting for the release of implementing guidelines before the rollout of the second boosters for the healthy adults aged 18 and above starts.

“Base sa updated emergency use authority ng Food and Drug Administration at ang positibong rekomendasyon ng Health Technology Assessment Council, maaari na po nating magamit ang ating mga bakuna na meron tayo ngayon upang makapag second booster na ang general population o ang ating healthy adults,” she said.

(Based on the updated emergency use authority of the Food and Drug Administration and the positive recommendation of the Health Technology Assessment Council, we can use the vaccines that we have now so that the general population or our healthy adults can get a second boosters.)

“Hopefully within the week we can issue [the guidelines] and we can start the implementation at the soonest time possible,” she added.

Initially, the second booster jabs were only made available to frontline healthcare workers, senior citizens, and persons with comorbidities.

Vergeire said vaccine brands Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca will be used for the second booster inoculation.

The DOH’s latest data showed that 78.4 million Filipinos were already fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while 23.8 million individuals have received their booster shots. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News