FORMER Speaker and Taguig City Representative Alan Peter Cayetano lauded the decision of the national government to provide booster shots to healthcare workers.

The Department of Health (DOH) started giving fully vaccinated healthcare workers the booster shot against COVID-19.

Cayetano said this will go a long way in protecting not just healthcare workers but all Filipinos from COVID-19 and it will also help the economy recover from the pandemic as many can return to work.

Based on the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) issued by the FDA, the DOH recommends using either Moderna, Pfizer, and Sinovac as booster doses regardless of the brand used for the primary series.

Sinovac will also be offered as a booster for those that had Sinovac as a primary series, it added.

Cayetano said giving booster shots to healthcare workers “will allow them to continue taking care of Filipinos who require medical attention from COVID and non-COVID diseases and shield us from a possible collapse of the healthcare system.”

The DOH announcement came two months after the Cayetano and his allies in Congress filed House Joint Resolution No. 40 which strongly urged the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to provide booster/additional shots to health care workers and the immunocompromised.

The resolution was signed by Cayetano, TaguigRep. Lani Cayetano, Anakalusugan Party-list Rep. Michael Defensor, Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez, Batangas Rep. Raneo Abu, and Bulacan Rep. Jose Antonio “Kuya” Sy-Alvarado.

Meanwhile, Rizal Rep. Fidel Nograles has called on concerned local government units (LGUs) to organize a plastic waster drive to help ensure that used faced shields were properly disposed of.

Face shields are no longer required in areas under Alert Level 1,2,3 except inside hospitals, medical facilities quarantine areas and in areas under Alert Level 4 and 5.

“We have a mounting waste problem that needs intervention both the local and national level. Kailangang maging organisado ang disposal ng mga face shield upang hindi na dumagdag pa sa problema,” Nograles said.

Nograles urged the agency to take a more aggressive approach to the disposal of face shields.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources estimates that about 65 million face shields are being used daily in 21.8 million households nationwide.