PH Urged to Redefine ‘Fully Vaccinated’ to Include 3rd Dose

PH Urged to Redefine ‘Fully Vaccinated’ Term to Include Third Dose

National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 former special adviser and health reform advocate Dr. Anthony Leachon urged the government on Sunday, June 5, to change the definition of “fully vaccinated” to include the third COVID-19 vaccine dose or the first booster shot.

As COVID-19 and its subvariants continue to be a threat in the country and the rest of the world, Leachon said that now is the time to do it.

“Hindi natin nabigyan ng attention yung communication nyan. Ang paniniwala ng tao [ay] ang kumpletong bakuna o minimum ay dalawang [doses lang]. Dapat i-redefine natin na at least three doses to protect us from Omicron para hindi tayo maospital,” he said in an interview with radio station DZRH.

(We weren’t able to pay attention to that communication. What Filipinos believe right now is that the complete vaccine or minimum jab requirement is two doses only. We must redefine this to at least three doses to protect us from Omicron so that we will not be hospitalized.)

According to the Department of Health’s (DOH) National COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard, as of June 4, only 14,438,542 individuals have received their booster vaccine.

Department of Health’s (DOH) National COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard as of June 4
Photo by Website/doh.gov.ph

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