Families of healthcare workers won’t be given boosters yet — DOH

Individuals living with healthcare workers will not yet be given booster shots against COVID-19, the Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday.

At a media briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that though the agency understands that family members are part of the expanded A1 group, the emergency use authorization (EUA) only caters to three priority groups.

“Ang binigyan pa lang po ng emergency use authority ng Food and Drug Administration is for us to deploy or provide boosters to senior citizens, healthcare workers, and individuals with comorbidities,” she said.

(The EUA issued by the Food and Drug Administration provides for us to deploy or provide boosters to seniors, healthcare workers, and individuals with comorbidities.)

“So ‘yung expanded A1 natin for family members, hindi muna natin sila bibigyan. We will just focus on these three sectors of the population first,” she added.

(So we will not yet vaccinate the expanded A1 for family members. We will focus on these three sectors of the population first.)

The Philippines on Wednesday began the inoculation of fully vaccinated healthcare workers with booster doses. Vergeire said the inoculation of senior citizens and immunocompromised individuals would follow.

Meanwhile, experts asked healthcare workers to carefully consider if they needed to be administered with booster doses.

Dr. Edsel Salvana of the DOH-Technical Advisory Group (DOH-TAG) said data for boosters is nowhere near the data gathered for the primary series of the vaccines.

“So pag-isipan n’yo mabuti kung kailangan n’yo talaga ng booster kasi if hindi naman kayo highly exposed, hindi naman kayo kasama sa vulnerable population then it’s probably better to wait for better data,” he said.

(So please think carefully if you really need boosters because if you are not highly exposed, if you are not part of the vulnerable population, then it’s probably better to wait for better data.)

Salvana said individuals who are fully vaccinated already have some protection against the severe effects of COVID-19.

Dr. Anna Ong-Lim, also a member of the DOH-TAG, urged healthcare workers belonging to the A2 and A3 priority groups to get a booster shot. 

“So siguro kung A1 tayo at nabibilang sa grupong ‘yun, those groups, we would encourage na please avail of this opportunity now kasi baka kakailanganin nila,” she added.

(So if you are A1 and you are part of those groups, we would encourage you to please avail of this opportunity because you might need it.) — VBL, GMA News