MANILA, Philippines — The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Moderna and Pfizer’s bivalent vaccinations for emergency use, according to the Department of Health (DOH).
DOH claimed that bivalent vaccines are made to protect against both the original COVID-19 strain and the Omicron variant and its subvariants.
According to DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire, recommendations and guidelines for the priority population will be made public in the coming days.
“We are pursuing the procurement of these bivalent vaccines because articles and evidence have shown that it guarantees additional protection.”
DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire
Earlier, the DOH had anticipated the purchase of bivalent vaccinations by the first quarter of 2023.
Vergeire also said that research showed that the BF.7 subvariant is more resistant to the immune system and more easily spread than the other Omicron subvariants. She stressed, though, that the public shouldn’t be afraid of subvariants, since we are already “living with the virus.”
“Nakikita natin na maingat ang ating mga kababayan. Dahil doon, hindi masyadong tumataas ang kaso,” Vergeire said.
(We see that our people are cautious, and as a result, the number of cases does not increase much.)