An infectious disease expert on Tuesday said a COVID-19 vaccine’s efficacy would not be affected even with a longer interval between two required doses.
Dr. Rontgene Solante, a member of the government’s vaccine experts panel (VEP), said in the June 29 Laging Handa briefing that the second dose should still be administered in case of delay.
“Kung made-delay man iyan, hindi pa rin iyan makaapekto doon sa efficacy. Dahil mayroong mga pag-aaral before sa iba’t-ibang mga bakuna na maski ma-delay ang interval, ibibigay pa rin iyong second dose, basta ang importante, maibibigay iyong second dose,” Solante said.
Several local government units (LGUs) recently suspended their vaccine rollouts pending the issuance of certificate of analysis for the new vaccine supply they received. There was also a delay in the delivery of Sputnik V vaccine’s second dose which contains its second component.
Solante also assured the efficacy of vaccines versus new variants, even if manufacturers have yet to release data of their product’s efficacy against mutations.
Only vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford AstraZeneca have studies showing their protection against variants, including the Delta variant.
“Lahat itong bakuna, isa lang ang target spike protein ‘no. And alam naman natin na iyong mutation sa spike protein, hindi naman ganoon ka-major mutation na apektado ang bakuna. Mayroon pa ring efficacy iyan,” Solante said.
“Ang importante na magpabakuna tayo… Dahil kapag hindi tayo magpapabakuna, mas lalong tumataas ang variant, mas lalo ang hawaan, kaya mas less ang proteksiyon,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH) in Davao Region recorded 14 cases of Alpha and Beta variants. All of the patients have already recovered and did not have local or international travel histories.
More than 1,000 specimens have been forwarded to the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) for further testing in line with the country’s intensified biosurveillance measures. – Report from Patrick de Jesus/AG-rir
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