THE country’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the amendments to the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of four vaccine brands for use as third dose or “booster” shots.
FDA Director-General Eric Domingo said the four brands given the go-signal as boosters are Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sinovac and Sputnik V.
For the administration of booster shots, Domingo said medical health care workers will be the first to receive booster shots. Vaccination of booster shots will start tomorrow, November 17.
To follow are senior citizens or the elderly with immunocompromised conditions, and also those with comorbidities.
Domingo said the Department of Health (DOH) has a list of who will be given booster shots and their location.
To be given priority are those in areas with high vaccination coverage and cities where more than 70 percent of their population have already been vaccinated.
Acting presidential spokesperson Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei Nograles also said that the DOH recommended the use of Pfizer, Moderna and Sinovac as booster shots o doses regardless of the brand used for vaccinees’ first and second doses, or what is called “primary series.”
Sinovac will also be offered as booster shots for those who had Sinovac for their first two doses.
The National Vaccination Operations Center, meanwhile, said the guidelines for the use of booster shots will be released today.