THE Department of Health (DoH) said that it will ask the Office of the President to redefine the vaccine status from two doses to three in a bid to increase the number of Filipinos getting boosted against Covid-19.

The country has so far boosted only 16 million Filipinos. The government hopes to vaccinate 23.8 million more in the ongoing “PinasLakas” booster shot campaign that will last until October.

In an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel, Health Officer in Charge Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said they first proposed the changing of jab status before the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases in the previous administration.

“But the economy was just starting to open then and we were asked to hold it first so it cannot affect the opening of the economy,” she said.

Vergeire said that the department will propose to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to redefine the status of vaccination to include those who received their third shot, whether it is an additional dose or a first booster shot.

Studies have shown that a third booster shot improves the immune response against the highly infectious Omicron variant.

In previous briefings, Vergeire said that the redefinition of vaccine status may affect the current alert level system status as one of the main metrics in the definition of an area’s alert level is its vaccination status.

Go Negosyo founder Jose Maria Concepcion 3rd advocated for a change in the vaccine status from two doses to three due to the entry of the Omicron variant in the country.

Vergeire said that increased hesitancy and complacency was the main reason why around 6 percent of the total vaccine stocks in the country expired or are nearing expiry.

“We have seen increased hesi

“We have seen increased hesitancy and complacency... they are confident with their first two doses and there were not much severe and critical so they [believe] that the first two doses are enough,” she said.

Meanwhile, case numbers in the National Capital Region have slowed down to 5 percent, OCTA Research senior fellow Dr. Guido David said.

In an infographic posted on his Twitter account, the reproduction number in the region has decreased to 1.17, adding that the slow increase gives him hope that the peak of the wave in the region may occur by next week.

“The trends need to be consistent for about a week before we can confidently say that there is a downward trend,” David said.

The region’s seven-day average is at 1,275 cases per day, translating to an average daily attack rate of 8.85 cases per 100,000 population, while health care utilization rate is at 35.7 percent.

Positivity rate in the region was 15.9 percent as of August 8.