DOH waiting for international health organizations' report on Delta subvariant

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Thursday they are still waiting for more data from international health organizations regarding the Delta coronavirus subvariant or the AY 4.2 subvariant, which is detected in European nations and in Israel.

"Naghihintay pa ng report sa international health organizations, sila naghihintay ng datos (We are still awaiting report from international health organizations, which are also finding more data about it)," Duque said on GTV's Balitanghali.

He also said the subvariant is not yet classified as a variant of concern and variant of interest.

Earlier, Dr. Edsel Salvana advised the public that there is no need to panic yet on reports of the new subvariant.

He said they received information that the subvariant has increased contagion similar or just slightly higher than the Delta variant, which is the most common lineage among samples sequenced in the country.

Philippines currently has a total of 4,431 Delta variant cases.

No data yet on mix and match of booster shots

Asked if the Philippines will allow a mix and match of booster shots, Duque said they are still looking into this proposal.

"Hindi pa 'yan malinaw on expert group and vaccine expert panel (It is not yet clear with expert group and vaccine expert panel)," said Duque.

He was reacting to the US Food and Drug Administration's expansion of its use of booster shots.

In its Oct. 20 press release, America's FDA approved the "use of each of the available COVID-19 vaccines as a heterologous (or 'mix and match') booster dose in eligible individuals following completion of primary vaccination with a different available COVID-19 vaccine."—AOL, GMA News