MANILA, Philippines — The country’s vaccine experts panel (VEP) said it will recommend to cut down the prescribed 90-day waiting period before a person who got infected with COVID-19 can be inoculated.
Dr. Rontgene Solante, a member of the VEP, said the panel will make a suggestion “not to wait for the 90 days period for you to receive the vaccine.” He said a recovered COVID-19 patient should be vaccinated 14 days after the individual is cleared of the virus.
“The most optimum interval is 14 days from the recovery,” Solante said in a briefing Tuesday.
He added that the 90-day waiting period is “too long.”
A February 23 memorandum of the Department of Health, which outlined vaccination guidelines, stated that “confirmed COVID-19 patients may be vaccinated after 90 days from the last day of isolation or treatment, regardless of disease severity.”
“The guidelines of the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group say we must wait two weeks after recovery, not 90 days,” Solante said in Filipino.
The chief of San Lazaro Hospital’s adult infectious diseases division explained that a vaccine must be administered when a body is “not in particular stress,” which means no symptoms are observed.
“Vaccines will work as long as you don’t have the symptom,” he said.
A total of 854,063 people have been so far inoculated against COVID-19 in the Philippines.
The government is facing criticism for its slow rollout of COVID-19 jabs. The country aims to inoculate up to 70 million people against COVID-19 this year. — Gaea Katreena Cabico