ESSENTIAL frontline health workers in Davao Region are set to receive Covid-19 booster doses.
In a press release from the Philippine Information Agency, Department of Health-Davao Region (DOH-Davao) Assistant Regional Director Lenny Joy Rivera confirmed that the regional office has just received the guidelines and is currently finalizing the rollout of the administration of the booster doses to the essential workers in frontline health services.
DOH-Davao has not provided a definite date on the inoculation of booster shots, and as to what areas in the region will be participating.
Davao City Covid-19 Task Force Spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser, in a radio interview on Wednesday, November 17, confirmed that the guidelines are being discussed, and have yet to be relayed to the local government units.
“As of the moment, wala pay (there is still no) guidelines,” Schlosser said in an interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.
She said they expected to create a memorandum on the rollout of booster shots once the guidelines are available.
According to the DOH-Davao vaccination report of A1 workers as of November 8, a total of 133,072 doses were jabbed for the first dose in the entire region, and 123,009 doses were administered for the second dose.
DOH announced Monday evening, November 15, that booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines will be given to fully vaccinated healthcare workers beginning Wednesday, November 17, 2021.
The health department cited the emergency use authorization (EUA) issued by the Food and Drug Administration in making the announcement.
DOH Secretary Francisco Duque led the ceremonial vaccination of booster shots at the National Kidney Transplant Institute (NKTI) together with vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr.
DOH issued the guidelines signaling the Priority Group A1 to receive a single dose of Covid-19 vaccines as a booster dose, either a homologous or a heterologous dose, at least six months after completion of the primary dose series or the first and second dose of vaccines such as Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Sinovac, Gamaleya, and AstraZeneca vaccines; and at least three months after completion of Janssen vaccine.
Heterologous means the administration of a Covid-19 vaccine of a different brand from the vaccine that was used to complete the primary vaccine series. Homologous means the administration of the same vaccine brand from the vaccine used to complete the primary vaccine series.
Health workers are given the option to choose whether to get a homologous or a heterologous booster dose depending on the availability of vaccine brands in the vaccination site.
The government is eyeing to administer booster shots to around 1.5 million healthcare workers in the country. (RGL with reports from SunStar Philippines)
