COVID-19 booster for 12-17 age group will continue ‘eventually’ — Duque

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Tuesday assured the public that the COVID-19 booster vaccination for the 12 to 17 age group will continue eventually.

This came after the government postponed the administration of the first COVID-19 booster dose for non-immunocompromised children ages 12 to 17 due to “glitches” with the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC).

Duque said HTAC had initially wanted areas that would roll out the booster vaccination to also have a 40% vaccination coverage for its senior citizens.

“Mukhang nilinaw na ‘yan kagabi ng HTAC. So mukhang matutuloy din eventually,” Duque said in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB.

(It seems like HTAC clarified this yesterday. So it will continue eventually.)

“So aayusin na ‘yan ngayong araw, ia-adjust na lang kung ano yung dapat pang last minute adjustment sa implementing guidelines nung policy of booster doses for 12 to 17 years of age outside of the immunocompromised population,” he later added.

(So they will fix it today and adjust the last-minute adjustments in the implementing guidelines of the policy of booster doses for 12 to 17 years of age outside of the immunocompromised population.)

In a separate statement, the DOH said the government is set to implement “very soon” the inoculation of the age group with booster doses.

“NVOC would like to thank our esteemed colleagues in the HTAC for their support in boosting our wall of immunity. We appreciate their work as experts ensuring the most cost-effective and beneficial use of our health resources,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.

“NVOC will be releasing implementation guidelines very soon,” she added.

Meanwhile, when asked about the concern of presidential adviser Joey Concepcion on the process of the HTAC, Duque said this should be respected.

“Well, alam mo respetuhin natin yan (we should respect that),” he said.

The Health Secretary, however, stressed that the Inter-Agency Task Force cannot listen to “pseudo-experts.”

“’Yang mga ibang grupo, hindi naman pwede sundin ng IATF yung mga pseudo-expert, ‘yung mga nag papanggap na mga eksperto, ha,’ yung mga kung ano ano ang kanilang rekomendasyon,” he said.

(These groups, IATF cannot follow the pseudo-experts, those who pretend to be experts, and who recommend anything.)

Duque refused to name the so-called pseudo-experts, saying “bahala ka na mag-isip.” 

Guidelines

For her part, Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire said the Health Department is set to release the guidelines for the booster vaccination of healthy individuals under the targeted age group within the day.

“We're going to issue our guidelines within the day para mapag-umpisahan na natin within this week [We're going to issue our guidelines within the day so we can hopefully resume the vaccination within the week],” said Vergeire in an interview on Balitanghali.

She also defended the HTAC from criticisms, saying it did not “delay” the vaccination but opted to prioritize investigating and giving recommendations for the booster vaccination of immunocompromised individuals ages 12 to 17.

As of June 26, the Philippines has administered a total of 153, 280, 975 COVID-19 vaccines. Of the figures, 70, 358, 616 individuals completed their two doses. 68,061,332 are awaiting their second shot while 14, 861, 027 have received their booster shots.  — RSJ/KBK, GMA News