MALAYBALAY CITY (PIA)–The Provincial Health Office (PHO) urges all eligible individuals in Bukidnon to get their COVID-19 vaccine booster shots with no delay as medical experts believe it is too early to predict how long those COVID-19 primary vaccines will protect people.
Jeanifer A. Malazarte, COVID-19 provincial vaccination coordinator said boosters may already be given to adults at least three months after the second dose of a primary two-dose vaccine or at least two months after the primary single-dose vaccine is given.
“We need to increase COVID-19 vaccine coverage to protect all people throughout the province and stop coronavirus transmission,” she said.
The PHO’s latest data showed that Bukidnon has 11.33 percent or 108,873 individuals who have availed of the first and second booster shots from its 961,333 eligible population.
Malazarte said the PHO began its first booster dose for youth aged 12 to 17 all across the province’s 20 towns and two cities in the first week of July and will continue until supplies run out.
The first dose for children aged 5 to 11 will also be administered while supplies last, she added.
The PHO announced that vaccination sites across the province are still open for the second booster shots for categories A1 (frontline health workers), A2 (senior citizens), and those with weakened immune systems.
With this, the health officials urged those who are fit to get their COVID-19 vaccine boosters to go to the vaccination sites in their area and coordinate with the Midwife to guide them and figure out what they should do.
The PHO also advised everyone to bring the required immunization card and parent/guardian identification card in order to receive their needed booster dose. (BGE/PIA-10/Bukidnon)