General population not yet eligible for COVID-19 booster shots — DOH

The Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday reminded the public that the general population is not yet eligible for booster vaccination.

In an advisory, the DOH said the decision to offer booster doses to health workers is still “risk-based.”

The DOH added that the booster doses’ rollout to other priority groups will be implemented in a “phased approach.”

“More than administering booster doses, it is still important to ensure that the eligible individuals, especially the senior citizens, those with comorbidities and the indigent population, will receive their primary doses,” the department said.

On Wednesday, the country began the inoculation of fully vaccinated medical workers with booster shots against COVID-19.

The National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) earlier released the guidelines for the vaccination of medical frontliners with booster dose.

The NVOC said Filipinos who were inoculated with Pfizer, Moderna, Sinovac, Gamaleya, and AstraZeneca vaccines for the primary series must wait at least six months before getting a booster shot.

Meanwhile, those who were inoculated with the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine for the primary series must wait at least three months.

Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. has said the country may start inoculating fully vaccinated senior citizens and people with comorbidities with additional doses by next week.

Booster shots are given when immunity is starting to wane after several months since receiving the vaccine, while additional doses, or third doses, are given to individuals who cannot mount the appropriate immunity against the sickness. — VBL, GMA News

General population not yet eligible for COVID-19 booster shots — DOH
Source: Filipino Viral News PH