DOH urged to procure monovalent XBB vaccine

MANILA, Philippines — Infectious disease expert Dr. Rontgene Solante is urging the government to procure the latest COVID-19 vaccine for the country’s vulnerable population.

“Though COVID is now an illness no longer different from the other diseases the Department of Health (DOH) is monitoring, it will still be good to have the monovalent XBB (vaccine) to protect the senior citizens and those with comorbidities,” Solante said in an interview.

The DOH earlier said there are no plans to procure a new batch of bivalent vaccines.

Solante said he supports Health Secretary Ted Herbosa’s decision to stop purchasing bivalent vaccines.

“The current circulating COVID variants are the lineages of XBB and not the BA.4, BA.5 anymore… The bivalent vaccine will not produce antibodies specific against XBB, thus it can’t protect anyone exposed to XBB-related variants,” he noted.

The latest Biosurveillance Report of the DOH showed that from August 2023 onwards, XBB and its sublineages were the most detected variants, comprising 92.91 percent of samples sequenced with assigned lineages.

The government’s vaccination program should now focus on the elderly, the immunocompromised and those with comorbidities, Solante said.

“If we want to protect the vulnerable, we should get the monovalent XBB variant-specific vaccines instead,” he added, noting that the jabs should be made available for free.

The Philippines has recorded over 18,000 typhoid cases this year, according to the DOH.

In its latest Disease Surveillance report, the DOH said 18,176 typhoid cases were reported from Jan. 1 to Oct. 7 – a 39 percent increase compared to the 13,117 recorded during the same period last year.

The Cordillera Administrative Region recorded the highest number of cases at 2,962 followed by Northern Mindanao with 1,977 and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) with 1,593.

Compared to last year, Central Luzon recorded the highest increase in cases at 191 percent or from 345 to 1,005 cases.

Mimaropa posted an increase of cases at 153 percent or from 590 to 1,491 while Soccsksargen logged an increase of 125 percent or from 521 to 1,170.

Data from the DOH Epidemiological Bureau also