The Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) will soon be coming out with its initial guidelines for the use of Covid-19 “booster shots.”
“We want to come up with some recommendation soon. Probably by next week, at least for some of our health care workers and the immuno compromised,” VEP member Nina Gloriani said during an online press briefing on Thursday.
The DOST currently has an ongoing study to review the duration of the efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccines, which is currently being administered locally.
Some vaccine manufacturers such as Pfizer-BionTech are already recommending the administration booster shots.
There are also recent studies from China, which proposed giving booster shots for people, who got the vaccine made by Sinovac since they showed lower neutralizing antibodies against Covid-19 after six months.
In the case of Sinovac, which was the first brand to be administered in country last March, Gloriani said they are looking at other factors to determine the duration of the efficacy of the said vaccine aside from antibodies.
“Protection against Covid is not only based on neutralizing antibodies. There are also memory T cells,” Gloriani said.
She said the result of their study will be provide the necessary guidance to the government and private sector, which are administering the Covid-19 vaccines.
National Task Force against Covid-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier said the government has no plans for now to administer booster shots due to limited vaccine supplies.
The government was able to secure is targeting to vaccinate 50 million to 70 million before the end of the year.
The Department of Finance (DOF) said it has allocated P45 billion for the purchase of additional Covid-19 vaccines, which can be used on unvaccinated individuals or as booster shots.