Dr. Josephine Villafuerte, the head of the city’s Vaccination Cluster said in a report from the City Information Office (CIO) that she already received the guidelines on the administration of the second booster dose from the National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC).
Villafuerte, however, said no schedule has been fixed yet for the local government units outside the National Capital Region (NCR). The administration of the second booster dose is currently ongoing in NCR.
Under the DOH Interim Operational Guidelines on the Administration of 2nd COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Doses only those to Immunocompromised Population (ICPs) or individuals 18 years old and above are eligible to receive the second booster shots either homologous or heterologous.
The COVID-19 vaccines with approved EUAs issued by the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and approved for use as a second booster are Pfizer, Moderna, Sinovac, Sinopharm, and AstraZeneca.
The second booster dose shall be administered at least three months after the third dose or first booster dose.
Eligible individuals shall be given the option to choose whether he/she shall receive a homologous or a heterologous second booster dose depending on the availability of vaccine brands.
Villafuerte earlier said the rolling out of secondary booster shots is the government’s scientific response to waning immunity.
“The move is really to give a second booster, so the fourth dose. It is needed because the immunity wanes,” she said.
She said there are COVID-19 positive cases who were vaccinated but did not have booster, which means their level of immunity lowered, the reason why booster dose is a must.
The DoH on Thursday (April 28) encouraged the public to have a second booster or fourth dose amid the newly-detected Omicron BA.2.12 variant from a traveler who tested positive for COVID-19 after having mild symptoms.
Photo from City Government of Davao