(Eagle News) – Philippine vaccine experts are now studying using Pfizer as a third dose or booster shot, according to the chair of the National Vaccination Operations Center.
Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said that the Philippine government is in fact already preparing to get more Pfizer doses for this purpose by the end of the year in case a booster shot is indeed needed.
Cabotaje said that the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) vaccine expert panel is leading the study for Pfizer booster shots for those who have already completed the two-dose regimen of current vaccines.
“Maliban po sa mga pag-aaral abroad, tinitingnan din kung puedeng magbigay ng third dose, yung tinatawag nating booster shot,” Cabotaje who chairs the country’s National Vaccination Operations Center said in a Laging Handa press briefing on Monday, July 12.
“Naghahanda ang ating vaccine cluster na mag-purchase ng additional (doses) towards the end of the year, kung kinakailangan na pong mag-third dose or mag-booster shot,” she said.
Pfizer and BioNTech announced last week that they are seeking regulatory authorization for a third dose of their Covid-19 vaccine in the United States.
It comes after initial data from an ongoing trial showed a third shot pushed antibody levels five to 10 times higher against the original coronavirus strain and the Beta variant, first found in South Africa, compared to the first two doses alone, according to a statement.
“The companies expect to publish more definitive data soon as well as in a peer-reviewed journal and plan to submit the data to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), EMA (European Medicines Agency) and other regulatory authorities in the coming weeks,” the statement said.
In addition, the companies expect that a third dose will perform similarly well against the highly transmissible Delta strain, which is quickly becoming globally dominant.
Out of caution, the companies are also developing a Delta-specific vaccine, the first batch of which has been manufactured at BioNTech’s facility in Mainz, Germany.
(Eagle News Service with a report from Agence France Presse)
