4th anti-COVID dose possible for immunocompromised —expert

A 4th anti-COVID vaccine dose a booster shot may be administered to the  immunocompromised, the Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP) said on Sunday.

In a Super Radyo dzBB interview, VEP chief Dr. Nina Gloriani said that since the immunocompromised receive three primary series of COVID-19 vaccine, their fourth dose may serve as their booster shot.

"Ang posibleng pwedeng bigyan ng second booster na tinatawag, or fourth dose ay ‘yung immunocompromised, as defined by WHO, PPC, FDA, pero hindi ‘yung general population,” she said.

(The immunocompromised may possibly be given a second booster or fourth dose, as defined by World Health Organization (WHO), PPC, FDA, but not the general population.)

“Pero ‘yung general population, dalawa lang tayo plus one [booster] muna. We do not know that kung kailangan,” she added.

(For the general population, however, we only have two primary doses plus one booster for now. We do not know yet if a second booster is needed.)

Currently, the Department of Health (DOH) is administering third doses to senior citizens and immunocompromised, while booster shots are given to those who have finished the three to six-month requirement after receiving their second dose.

Gloriani said that the government has not discussed plans regarding the administration of a second booster shot as there is no enough data yet regarding that.

“Ang tinitingnan natin, ‘yung mga ginagawang mga bakuna ngayon kasi maraming updated version eh. So baka hindi ‘yung dati, hindi ‘yung parang prototype, ‘yung unang-una o ‘yung first generation ang ibigay. Baka iba na,” she said.

(What we are looking at now is the new vaccines being developed because there are a lot of updated versions. We might not administer the prototype boosters or those from the first generation. We might use others.)

Earlier, Infectious disease expert Dr. Rontgene Solante also said it was important that the public receive just one COVID-19 booster shot after their primary vaccine series as there was yet no data to prove that boosters have to be administered every three to six months.

Based on DOH’s national COVID-19 vaccination dashboard, 8 million Filipinos have received booster shots.

Meanwhile, 60.6 million individuals have received one dose, and 60 million have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in the country.  —LBG, GMA News