Dr. Josephine Villafuerte, Covid-19 Vaccination program head for Davao City, said individuals who had their second dose more than three months ago are entitled to a booster shot of their choice.
“Tanan na nakadawat og second dose vaccination, they are already entitled to have their booster shots basta naka three months na sila from the last dose,” said Villafuerte during an interview with the Davao City Disaster Radio on Tuesday.
(Those who already got their second dose are now entitled to get booster shots as long as it is three months after they got their last dose.)
Villafuerte said all operating vaccination hubs in the city are catering booster doses for the general public, including night-shift vaccination hubs.
“All categories na, dili na ta naga ingon na frontliners lang or senior lang,” she said.
(We are now accepting all categories, not only frontliners and seniors.)
Individuals can also choose their own brand of Covid-19 vaccine as their booster shot.
“Since it’s already open sa general public, they can choose, sila na gyod mu-decide unsa ba ila gusto na booster dose vaccine ,” the program head said.
(Since it’s already open to the general public, they can choose, they can now decide what vaccine brand they want for their booster shot.)
“Example, AstraZeneca ka, gusto nimo Pfizer BioNTech na booster, pwede. If Sinovac-CoronaVac ka, gusto nimo mag AstraZeneca, pwede siya. Except if nag AstraZeneca ka tas mag Sinovac ka, dili ka pwede,” she added.
(For example, if you had AstraZeneca previously, you can have Pfizer BioNTech for your booster. If you previously had Sinovac-CoronaVac, you can have AstraZeneca. However, if you had AstraZeneca, you cannot get Sinovac as your booster.)
According to Vilalfuerte, the Department of Health issued an advisory to shorten the interval between the second dose vaccination and booster dose shot from six months to three months.
“Naa na man tay DOH advisory na instead of six months (interval) from the second dose, ginaog na nila to 3 months except for Janssen na pwede siya mag booster for the second month,” she said.
(DOH already issued an advisory that you can get a booster shot three months after your second dose; except for those who got Janssen, you can get your booster shot after the second month.)
Meanwhile, as of December 26, the vaccinated population in Davao City has reached 1.2 million or almost 95 percent for the first dose and almost 85 percent for the second dose, according to Villafuerte.
Vaccination sites are closed during the New Year break from December 30 to January 1, but Villafuerte said operations will resume on January 3 that will cater first, second doses, and booster shots. It will be open to the public including minors ages 12 to 17 years old.
“We resume on monday, tuloy-tuloy na yan siya kasi by Monday we will also be catering sa tanan na children from 12 to 17 years and 18 and above,” Villafuerte said.
