ACCORDING to the Department of Health, around half of fully-vaccinated healthcare workers have yet to receive their COVID-19 booster shots.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire pointed out that while 95 percent of health workers in the country have been fully vaccinated, this does not translate to a high uptake for boosters among health workers. Only 49.07 percent of frontline health workers have availed themselves of boosters, Vergeire said.
It was noted by Dr. Anna Ong-Lim, a pediatric infectious disease expert and member of the DOH’s Technical Advisory Group, that the COVID cases and booster shots campaign are somewhat related.
‘Let us support the government’s drive to push more booster shots to more communities, and we should start with the frontliners and the senior citizens.’
Ong-Lim said the phenomenon is observed across different vaccines and various countries.
If the cases of COVID-19 are diminishing as they are today, people tend to be complacent with health protocols. The pool of susceptibles will increase, and the number of cases will surge, according to Lim.
Ong-Lim is right in attributing this phenomenon to human nature. She said, “I think the message to everybody, particularly to those who are at high risk like those with occupational exposure, health workers, seniors or those with comorbidities, let us take advantage of this lull in the pandemic, and let us get booster shots.”
Based on the National COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard, a total of 2.9 million individuals under the A1 category have already been fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, 1.3 million have received booster shots.
Let us support the government’s drive to push more booster shots to more communities, and we should start with the frontliners and the senior citizens.
