BACOLOD City – The Emergency Operations Center – Task Force (EOC-TF) here warned the public against using different brands for first and second doses of their anti-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines.
People must not risk their health, according to City Administrator Em Ang, executive director of EOC.
Mixing vaccine brands has not yet been proven with certainty to give protection against the coronavirus, she said.
The Department of Health has also yet to issue an advisory regarding this mix-and-match approach to COVID-19 vaccination,
“So, when it comes to your health, always choose what is safe,” Ang said.
Meanwhile, EOC’s Contact Tracing Cluster head, Dr. Rosalie Deocampo reiterated that the best vaccine is one that is available at hand.
According to Deocampo, fully vaccinated Bacolodnons only experienced mild symptoms and were even asymptomatic when they contracted COVID-19.
These individuals were administered with two doses of the same brand of vaccines, she added.
An individual is considered “fully vaccinated” two weeks after receiving the second dose, Deocampo stressed.
“So far, no fully vaccinated Bacolodnon ever had COVID-19 severe symptoms,” she said.
Deocampo also encouraged the public to get vaccinated, as she reiterated that medical doctors here were the ones who first got the jabs when vaccine supply was made available in March./PN
