DAVAO CITY, November 17 (PIA) – Essential workers in frontline health services in Davao Region are set to receive COVID-19 booster doses.
Department of Health XI Assistant Regional Director Lenny Joy Rivera confirmed that the regional office has just received the guidelines and the office is now in the process of planning and finalizing the roll out of the administration of the booster dose to the essential workers in frontline health services.
The Department of Health issued a guidelines that Priority Group A1 shall receive a single dose of COVID-19 vaccines as a booster dose, either a homologous or a heterologous dose, at least six months after completion of the primary dose series or the first and second dose of vaccines such as Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Sinovac, Gamaleya, and AstraZeneca COVID19 vaccines; and at least 3 months after completion of Janssen COVID19 vaccine.
Heterologous means the administration of a COVID19 vaccine of a different brand from the vaccine that was used to complete the primary vaccine series. Homologous means the administration of the same vaccine brand from the vaccine used to complete the primary vaccine series.
Healthworkers are given the option to choose whether to get a homologous or a heterologous booster dose depending on the availability of vaccine brands in the vaccination site.
Individuals who got Sinovac primary doses may be given with AstraZeneca, Pfizer, or Moderna booster dose. Those who got AstraZeneca may be given with Pfizer, or a Moderna. Those who received Gamaleya Sputnik V may be given with AstraZeneca, or Moderna; those who received Janssen may be given with AstraZeneca, Pfizer, or Moderna booster dose.
Those who received Pfizer primary doses may be given with AstraZeneca or Moderna booster; while those who received a Moderna primary dose may get an AstraZeneca or Pfizer booster dose.
The DOH guidelines indicated that vaccine recipients may experience less AEFIs with the homologous vaccination strategy. Also, current evidence showed that a heterologous vaccination strategy is more effective and recommended for the immuno-compromised. (PIA XI/Frances Mae Macapagat)
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