NVOC sees need to allocate more Pfizer, Moderna, Astrazeneca doses to LGUs for boosters, minors

The National Vaccination Operations Center on Thursday said more doses of the AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Moderna vaccines must be allocated to local government units for booster shots and pediatric vaccination.

Dr. Kezia Lorraine Rosario of NVOC said they are working on how they can provide enough of the COVID-19 brands that are required for immunization.

“Somehow, ‘yung bakuna natin for the boosters which are, aside from the homologous, ‘yung AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Pfizer are allowed to be given as heterologous,” Rosario said at the Laging Handa briefing.

“So, somehow, we need to allocate more of those kasi puwede siyang ibigay as heterologous sa nabigyan ng Sinovac, Janssen, Gamaleya, and the rest,” she added.

The three vaccine brands are the recommended heterologous booster shots by the Department of Health after the completion of the primary series.

Further, she said specific brands such as Moderna and Pfizer are the only vaccines approved for minors aged 12 to 17.

“So ‘yun ‘yung balancing act na kailangan gawin ng Operations Center. Hindi lang sa national center kundi sa regional at saka sa local government, ‘yung pag distribute nila equally nung brands across sa kanilang mga vaccination sites para mas mabigyan ng supply lahat ng mga nangangailangan,” she said.

(So this is the balancing act that we need to do, not just the national center but also the regional and local governments, the equal distribution of brands across the vaccination sites so that everyone that needs the supply will be given.)

Around 1.2 million doses have been administered nationwide as of December 22, according to the National COVID-19 vaccination dashboard.

The Food and Drug Administration recently approved the recommendation to cut down the interval period between the primary series and the booster dose by three months.

According to Rosario, the guidelines were released on Wednesday.

“Nag a-announce tayo and nabigay yung guidelines yesterday morning lang talaga, no? And somehow ‘yung mga LGUs are still adapting to the change of directions and also are preparing for the rollout ng mga booster doses,” she said.

(We announced and we gave the guidelines yesterday morning. our LGUs are still adapting to the change of directions and also are preparing for the rollout of the booster doses.)

“So we expect that slower 'yung rollout and then will ramp up as we go along in the next few days po,” she added.

(So we expect that the rollout will be slower and then will ramp up as we go along in the next few days.)

Rosario previously said that Filipinos are still allowed to choose their preferred brand for their booster shots. However, she also urged to accept whatever vaccine is available.

She also said that the priority remains to be the inoculation of the primary series.

“Sa ating pagbabakuna naman po, we are expecting na mabigyan pa din ng pansin ng ating mga local governments yung pagbibigay talaga ng primary doses kasi alam naman natin even with the threat of Omicron, talagang affected will be those that are unvaccinated,” she said.

(In our vaccination, we are expecting our local government to prioritize the giving of the primary doses because we know that even with the threat of Omicron, the ones that will be affected will be those that are unvaccinated.) — RSJ, GMA News