Private sector groups want Filipinos to receive their booster shots sooner than the prescribed six-month period after receiving the final dose of Covid-19 jabs to strengthen immunity.
GoNegosyo Founder and Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Jose Maria A. Concepcion and OCTA Research Fellow Nicanor Austriaco recommended that the national government consider “shortening the interval between the second dose and the booster dose from 6 months to 4 months.”
“There is data that suggests that acquired immunity from the Covid-19 vaccines significantly decreases at around five months, sometimes sooner depending upon the vaccine brand,” their joint statement on Wednesday read.
As such, they said cutting the waiting period for the booster shot by two months will “preserve the significant population immunity that is mitigating the pandemic in the country at this time.” This, as the representatives took note of the excess supply of vaccines.
In addition, Concepcion and Austriaco noted that recent data about the Omicron variant from South Africa suggests that it is more “transmissible and more immune-evasive.” They said that it is likely that a surge in Covid-19 cases will happen once it arrives in the country.
Austriaco said the government must be able to administer booster shots by the first or second quarter of next year already to avoid Covid-19 surge.
The Philippines can do this, Concepcion said, as the country has the “tools to be able to handle the threat of waning vaccine protection in the population.”
“We have the vaccines, and it will be those vaccines that will create that wall of protection,” he said.
Citing data from GoNegosyo’s sources, the Philippines is expected to have received nearly 200 million vaccine doses by the end of 2021.
The private sector representatives suggested focusing vaccination in cities and first class municipalities, including those near the international gateways such as airports and seaports, to improve protection against Omicron variant.
“The significant population protection in the urban regions of our country will also help to shield our farming communities and our kababayans living in the countryside, many of whom have not yet been vaccinated,” the joint statement said.
