(Photo courtesy of PNP PIO)
MANILA – The coronavirus jabs administered in vaccination activities nationwide remain effective against recombinant variants of coronavirus such as Omicron XE, an infectious diseases expert said Tuesday.
Omicron XE is a combination of two Omicron sub-variants – BA.1 and BA.2.
In an online media forum, Department of Health – Technical Advisory Group member, Dr. Edsel Salvana, said current Covid-19 vaccines should be effective against XE “to the same level as BA.2."
“It has 30 to 40 percent protection [against infection], but against the severe disease, it's still pretty high around 80 percent. Kung mag-booster tayo (if we receive a booster shot), better than that,” he added.
Salvana said there is always a possibility for Omicron XE to enter the country.
“But we don’t expect it to be more severe, and we don’t expect it to dodge vaccines any worse than BA.1 or BA.2,” he added.
In the same forum, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire urged fully vaccinated individuals to receive booster shots for an added layer of protection against new variants of the coronavirus.
On Saturday, neighboring Thailand has recorded its first case of Omicron XE.
The World Health Organization estimates that it is 10 percent more transmissible than BA.2. However, its severity is still being investigated.
So far, about 12.2 million out of the 46.8 million eligible individuals have received their booster shots.
Meantime, more than 66.2 million individuals are already fully vaccinated against Covid-19 while 71.4 million have received at least a dose of the life-saving jabs. (PNA)
