Davao City Covid-19 TF to get vax preferred for booster jab

The Davao City Covid-19 Task Force is fast-tracking the allocation request for more anti-Covid vaccines preferred by Dabawenyos in preparation for an intensified rollout of the booster shots in the city.

Davao City Covid-19 Task Force Spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser in an interview on the Davao City Disaster Radio Wednesday noted a low turnout of the booster dose due to the people’s preference of a heterologous booster over the homologous booster vaccination. She said this has been taken into account by the Task Force.

The heterologous booster vaccination is the mixed dose of the anti-Covid-19 vaccine which is not the same as their first and second dose, while homologous booster vaccination is the same brand of vaccines administered for the first and second doses.

“We have to assure the public that the vaccination cluster together with the Covid-19 Task Force and the Regional Department of Health, gipaspasan gyud ang pagrequest og mga vaccine allocation para mahatagan nato both simultaneously heterologous and homologous choice ang mga tao when it comes to booster (We have to assure the public that the vaccination cluster together with the COVID-19 Task Force and the Regional Department of Health, we are fast-tracking the request for vaccine allocation for so that give both simultaneously, heterologous and homologous choice to the people when it comes to booster),” Schlosser said.

Schlosser said that at present the majority of the vaccines for booster shots available are Sinovac and AstraZeneca since these are also the vaccine brands rolled out for the general population for the first and second doses.

“Ang mga tao gitagaan man sila ug choice kung mag heterologous or homologous sila. Between efficacy and safety mas gusto man sa tao ang efficacy and we understand that (People are given choice if they want to have heterologous or homologous. Between efficacy and safety people opts for efficacy and we understand that),” Schlosser said.

Regardless of heterologous or mixed dose and homologous booster dose, Schlosser underscores that getting a booster dose is very important given an expected surge of coronavirus cases and the threat of Omicron variant.

“Another layer of protection will not hurt labi na that we are anticipating a surge and we are also anticipating the arrival of a variant na mas massive ang spread, kasi kaning Omicron although milder siya, the spread is exponential (Another layer of protection will not hurt, especially that we are anticipating a surge and the arrival of a variant with massive spread because Omicron although milder can have exponential spread),” Schlosser said.

She also reminded the public to continue following the minimum public health protocols, noting a rise of Covid-19 cases since the start of 2022.

“Unfortunately for the past two days nagdoble ang atong digits from 16 nahimo na siyang 32. I hate to admit it but we are expecting na magtaas ang cases. What we are trying to do is to mitigate the risk of massive surge labi na gyud ang pag-overwhelm sa atong health systems (Unfortunately, for the past two days our cases doubled from 16 to 32. I hate to admit it but we are expecting the rise of cases. What we are trying to do is to mitigate the risk of massive surge especially overwhelming our health systems). CIO