Video courtesy of PTV

Filipinos who were inoculated with Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccine should wait for the advice of experts on which brand could be used for their booster shot, the Department of Health said on Thursday.

“The experts have not come out with recommended booster shots because kulang ng data ang nai-submit sa FDA kung ano iyong puwedeng ibakuna,” said 
DOH Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje.

(The data submitted to the FDA did not indicate which vaccine could be used.)

She told those who received Sinopharm shots, “Maghintay-hintay lang muna.”

“We hope that in a couple of weeks, kasi matagal na, alam ko matagal na silang naghihintay. Kailangan ipinu-push, kasi ang dami na talagang nagtatanong. So we will ask not only our experts here, but also WHO (World Health Organization), kung anong puwede nilang mairekomendang booster ng Sinopharm.”

(Just wait for a bit. We hope that in a couple of weeks, because it has been some time, I know they have been waiting for a while. It needs to be pushed because many are asking already. So we will ask not only our experts here, but also the WHO, on what Sinopharm booster they could recommend.)

President Rodrigo Duterte was vaccinated with the Sinopharm jab. He has received a booster shot from the same brand, his acting spokesman Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said earlier this month.

"That’s under the advice of the doctor kasi, so it’s between him and the doctor," he said in a press briefing last Tuesday.

"Wala naman pong masamang epektong naidulot, sa pagkakaalam namin," Nograles added in an interview the next day.

(There was no adverse effect, from what we know.)