The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday confirmed that a hospital in the National Capital Region which it declined to name mistakenly administered the second booster shot against the coronavirus to healthcare workers and senior citizens who are not immunocompromised.
In a statement, the DOH said the hospital management had explained that “they unintentionally misinterpreted guidelines”.
Under the amended emergency use authorization approved by the Food and Drug Administration, senior citizens, frontline healthcare workers, and immunocompromised persons may be given a second booster shot.
Although the Health Technology Assessment Council has completed recommendations for a second booster shot to the immunocompromised, it is still reviewing data for doing the same to senior citizens and healthcare workers.
The DOH said it is currently coordinating with health care facilities and vaccination sites to prevent further instances of these events, together with the National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC).
“The facilities in question have now since returned to administering boosters to immunocompromised persons only,” it added.
As for the target number of persons with comorbidities to be covered, the NVOC said it plans to vaccinate around 690,000 across all priority groups.
“Operations will initially aim to reach approximately 1-2% of this target, which corresponds to about 7,000 – 13,000 individuals. LGUs [local government units] will take the lead in gradually expanding the rollout,” it added
Source: Philippines News Agency
