By Christine Fabro
Medical experts say that “it is prudent for the Philippine government to delay vaccine mix-and-match” due to limited studies that involve the available shots here, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Saturday (July 3).
The DOH spokesperson Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that experts recommend studying the mix-and-match between all platforms, including the mRNA vaccines, viral vector vectors, and other vaccine technologies.
“Ang kanilang rekomendasyon, kung saka-sakaling pupunta tayo diyan sa direksyon na magmi-mix and match tayo, unang-una, it will be most safe kung parehong platform ang gagamitin natin,” Vergeire said in a Laging Handa public briefing on Saturday.
She added that the vaccine expert panel advised DOH to wait for the “big study that is being done”, wherein the results will be coming out in the third quarter this year.
Vergeire clarified that the vaccines were made available here through their listing on the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).
”Sa ngayon, iyong EUA natin with these different vaccines that we have, wala pa pong sinasabi that we can mix and match. If ever the evidence will be strong, the EUA has to be revised also. Same goes with the vaccination for children 12 to 17 for the other types of vaccine,” Vergeire said. -rir
