MANILA, Philippines – The second COVID-19 booster doses are now available for the general public, Department of Health (DOH) officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire announced in a press conference on Wednesday, April 12.

The second booster was approved by the Food and Drug Administration and the Health Technology Assessment Council.

This approval comes a year after the second booster was approved for senior citizens last April 2022, and then expanded to include adults 50 and older last July 2022.

“Inaantay lang po natin na mailabas natin ang implementing guidelines at mag-umpisa na po tayo magpabakuna for our second boosters for the general population,” Vergeire said.

(We are just waiting for the implementing guidelines and then we can start rolling out our second boosters for the general population.)

According to the DOH’s latest data on vaccinations, 78.4 million have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of March 16; 23.8 million have received their first boosters, while 4.2 million have received their second boosters.

The Philippines is behind much of the world with the rollout of the second booster.

The US approved its second booster last March 2022.

The Philippines’ neighbor Indonesia approved the second booster for its general adult population in January 2023, according to the Jakarta Post.

While the guidelines have not yet been released, the World Health Organization recommends adult individuals wait 4 to 6 months before getting their second booster.

There has been a slight uptick in COVID-19 cases from March to April.

The average daily cases between March 27 and April 2 is at 278, for a total of 1,944 new cases for that period. Only 17 of those, or 0.94% of new cases, were severe or critical.

Hospital capacity remains below the danger zone with 14.8% of ICU beds utilized, and 16.5% non-ICU beds used. – Rappler.com