DOH finalizing bivalent guidelines

Health care workers (A1), senior citizens (A2) and people with comorbidities (A3) are to benefit from the first batch of bivalent COVID-19 vaccines arriving this March, the Department of Health (DOH) said as it finalizes the drafting of guidelines concerning the use of these vaccines in the country.

“For this initial batch of donated bivalent vaccines, the A1, A2 and A3 shall be prioritized in line with the conditions set by the COVAX Facility,” the DOH said in a statement yesterday.

“Currently, different strategies and allocation mechanisms are being studied by DOH, taking into consideration acceptability, equity, and operational efficiency in utilizing the vaccine,” the DOH said, adding that “once additional doses are secured and available, prioritization may be expanded to other priority groups.”

The health department noted, “Rest assured that the guidelines shall be issued in time for the implementation of the roll-out of vaccines in the country.”

Based on DOH’s latest data, there are over three million fully vaccinated A1 members, with 1.8 million health care workers getting booster shots. As for A2 members, there are 6.9 million fully vaccinated senior citizens, with 2.7 million having been boosted.

For those with comorbidities, records showed that 9.4 million are fully vaccinated, of whom 3.1 million A3 members have received booster doses.

The DOH, earlier announced that it has already secured an initial donation of around one million doses of bivalent COVID-19 Pfizer vaccines from COVAX Facility. These are expected to arrive by end of March 2023.

At the same time, the DOH is currently coordinating with other countries that offered donations of bivalent vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna. The DOH likewise said that initially, only a limited amount will be purchased to prevent vaccine wastage.

613 Omicron subvariant cases detected

Some 613 new cases of the Omicron subvariant were detected in the country, the DOH said in its latest Biosurveillance Report.

Samples sequenced by the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center on Jan. 28 showed there were 252 cases of BA.2.3.20, local cases found in all regions except the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Meanwhile, two cases of BA.2.75 were detected, one from Central Visayas and the other from Caraga.

The report also noted 16 cases of BA.5 wherein seven were identified as other (BA.5) sublineages –two from Central Luzon, one each from Central Visayas and Caraga, and three from the National Capital Region (NCR).

There were also 18 cases of BQ. 1, which also falls under BA.5. These were found in Cagayan Valley (1), Central Visayas (2), Soccsksargen (3), Calabarzon (1), Caraga (1) and NCR (1), and nine returning overseas Filipino or ROF.

Meanwhile, a total of 201 XBB cases were detected. They were found in all regions except Western Visayas. There were 15 XBB cases spread out in Zamboanga peninsula, Soccsksargen, BARMM and Caraga. At the same time, the DOH monitored 118 other Omicron subvariants in all regions except BARMM and Western Visayas.

The DOH said new variants are continuously being detected across the globe. “We understand the WHO (World Health Organization) declaration to retain the state of public health emergency of international concern. I think we are at that point that everybody is cautious,” DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said.

“Virus crosses borders and we are not certain at this point if these other variants detected in other countries will also enter the Philippines,” Vergeire said.