MANILA — Philippines' adult population will be given COVID vaccine boosters "in the next couple of days," the Department of Health said Wednesday, as the threat of the new Omicron coronavirus variant made vaccination more urgent.

The Philippines is already finalizing guidelines for providing COVID-19 booster shots for all adults, said Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje, who chairs the National Vaccination Operation Center.

"The EUA (emergency use authorization) has been approved, we will just finalize the guidelines," said Cabotaje.

"In the next couple of days, we will have the boosters for all the 18 years old and above," she said in a televised public briefing.

The Philippines earlier this month started giving booster shots to health workers, the elderly, and immunocompromised individuals.

The drug regulator approved 4 vaccine brands as third or booster shots, namely Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sinovac, and Sputnik Light.

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The country has been dealing with one of Asia's worst COVID-19 outbreaks and its vaccine rollout has been slower than many neighbors, with just over a third of its 109 million population inoculated.

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Omicron, which the World Health Organization has described as a "variant of concern," has yet to be detected in the Philippines. Its spread however has sparked global travel restrictions and rattled financial markets.

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— With reports from Jamaine Punzalan, ABS-CBN News; Reuters

Video Courtesy of PTV