Booster shots included in 3-day nat’l vaccination drive

MANILA, Philippines — The administration of booster shots is included in the government’s three-day national vaccination day on November 29 to December 1, Department of Health (DOH) Director Dr. Beverly Ho said on Saturday.

During the Laging Handa briefing, Ho said that eligible individuals may get their booster dose during the three-day event.

“For those of you who are asking, yes, booster doses will also be provided for A1, A2, and A3 immunocompromised din po during the national vaccination days,” she said.

A1 comprises health workers while A2 are senior citizens. For the A3, only select immunocompromised people may receive the vaccine for now.

Among the immunocompromised individuals who are eligible for the booster dose are those with immunodeficiency state, people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), active cancer or malignancy, transplant patients, and patients under immunosuppressive treatments.

Qualified individuals, who received vaccines aside from Johnson and Johnson (J&J), may only be administered with a booster dose after six months from the injection of a second dose.

For J&J vaccine recipients, they may get a booster shot after three months from administration of the single-dose vaccine.

During the three-day national vaccination program, the government targets to inoculate nine million individuals, lower than its initial goal of 15 million.

Another vaccination drive is set on December 15 to 17 to achieve the goal of immunizing 54 million Filipinos against COVID-19 by year-end.

As of November 25, the DOH recorded 44,502,112 first dose recipients while 34,963,067 people are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.