PHO asked to study vaccine booster shots for health workers

By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD City – Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said the Provincial Health Office of Negros Occidental has been tasked to study the possibility of administering COVID-19 booster shots for health workers vaccinated with Sinovac.

He said this aims to strengthen health workers’ resistance against the highly contagious Delta variant by using AstraZeneca vaccines the province procured.

Diaz said that more than 100 Indonesian health workers who were fully vaccinated with Sinovac died after getting infected with the Delta variant of COVID-19.

He also said that while there is no go signal from the national government yet to administer booster shots to medical workers, “Let us not wait for that Indonesian experience to be ours.”

Diaz stressed the need to plan ahead on how to avoid Indonesia’s fate, adding that the Delta variant is inching into the province.

Earlier, the Department of Health earlier confirmed that two residents of Antique in Panay had been infected with the Delta variant, and one of them died.

But the DOH has issued a stern warning against medical workers administering COVID-19 booster shots, adding that they will face sanctions.

Diaz stressed the need to protect health workers, who are in the danger zone, from the Delta variant.

“I hope the DOH will think about it as soon as possible. While we are in the process of strategizing it, protecting our health workers using our own procured vaccines, how about the donated DOH vaccines, if we can possibly use it to strengthen the immune system of our health workers, in the light of the Indonesian experience.”