MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines on Monday began administering second COVID-19 booster shots to immunocompromised individuals in a bid to provide Filipinos additional protection against the virus.
The Philippine Children’s Medical Center in Quezon City, Dr. Jose Rodriguez Memorial Hospital (Tala) in Caloocan City, Valenzuela Medical Center, and the local government of Makati are scheduled to give second booster doses to vulnerable sectors, the Department of Health said in a message to reporters.
More vaccination sites will start administering second booster shots in the coming days.
The National Vaccination Operations Center targets to give additional protection to around 690,000 immunocompromised individuals. Immunocompromised individuals are defined as those with or are:
- Immunodeficiency
- HIV
- Active cancer
- Transplant recipients
- Undergoing steroid treatment
- Bedridden
According to the DOH, the initial rollout aims to reach approximately 1 to 2% of the target, or about 7,000 to 13,000 individuals. Then, local government units will take the lead in expanding the rollout.
The Food and Drug Administration earlier authorized a second booster shot for senior citizens, immunocompromised individuals and health workers. For immunocompromised individuals, the second booster shot should be administered at least three months after the first booster dose.
More than 66 million Filipinos have completed vaccination against COVID-19. Of the figure, only around 12 million have gotten booster shots.