The Commission on Human Rights supports the recent statement made by Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. on Monday, 13 September on the prioritization of healthcare workers in administration of booster shots. While the World Health Organization has yet to recommend the use of booster shots, evidence and recommendations from medical experts suggest that some healthcare workers inoculated with certain vaccines may experience waning protection against Covid.

Breakthrough infections in the Philippines which stands at 0.0013 percent of 9.1 million fully vaccinated individuals may seem infinitesimal. However, there is no denying that more and more frontliners are increasingly at risk of breakthrough infections in the midst of the highly transmissible Delta variant which has rapidly become the dominant Covid strain in the country.

Crucial to sustaining our efforts in the fight against this pandemic is equipping our medical frontliners with the right amount of protection. As we await further recommendations from the Vaccine Expert Panel of the Department of Science and Technology, the Commission remains hopeful that should the administration booster shoots be approved, ample vaccine supplies will be ready for medical workers and immunocompromised individuals.

Ultimately, the best way we can stop Covid and its mutations is to prevent its transmission. There is no mutation with no replication. Hence, the Commission urges everyone for their continued vigilance and exercise of health precautions during this pandemic.