Private hospitals ready to support rollout of 2nd booster shots
PRIVATE hospitals are ready to support the Department of Health’s (DoH) rollout of coronavirus vaccine second booster shots to the general adult population, the sector’s association head said on Thursday.
“We will follow whatever is instructed to us by the DoH and we hope we will be given the opportunity to serve and extend our help,” Jose Rene De Grano, president of the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines, told a televised briefing in Filipino.
Last week, the DoH gave the green light for the general population to get their second booster jab after the Food and Drug Administration and other health authorities approved the proposal.
The department on Tuesday said it had approved the guidelines for the general population rollout.
Priority for a fourth vaccine dose was given to health workers, senior citizens and those with conditions that made them vulnerable to the virus.
The daily average of coronavirus infections in the Philippines rose by 23% to 341 cases on April 10 to 16 form a week earlier, the DoH said in a bulletin on Monday.
Despite the slight uptick in cases, Health-officer-in-charge Maria Rosario S. Vergeire said the DoH will not bring back the mask mandate yet.
The OCTA Research Group on Wednesday said the nationwide positivity rate, or the people who tested positive for the coronavirus, increased to 8.5% from 7.6% week on week. — John Victor D. Ordoñez
