The Department of Health on Wednesday said it submitted a request from the Health Technology Assessment Council to consider giving Covid-19 second booster shots to the general population.

"We already wrote a letter to our experts in HTAC if we can already provide a second booster shot to the general population to give them additional protection," Health Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a radio interview.

Vergeire issued the remarks after presidential adviser for entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion blamed the HTAC for the expired Covid-19 vaccines.

Concepcion said the expired Covid-19 vaccines could have been used as second booster shots to the general population.

At the moment, the government only provides second Covid-19 booster shots to healthcare workers, people with comorbidities, and senior citizens.

Meanwhile, Vergeire said only 27 percent or 21.1 million out of more than 50 million eligible population received their first booster shots.

She reminded the public that availing of first booster shots is still important, particularly for the vulnerable population.

"We need to do a double effort for those who have yet to receive their first booster," she said. "Our senior citizens, healthcare workers, and people with comorbidities, still need second booster shots."

'Bivalent Covid-19 vaccines'

The government, Vergeire said, will continue to provide monovalent vaccines despite the issuance of emergency use authorization for bivalent Covid-19 vaccines.

"These monovalent vaccines that we use now — we will still use it in our vaccination program despite having bivalent vaccines," she said.

She added that the government is procuring bivalent vaccines to provide more protection for the most vulnerable population.

She assured the public that the Health department is studying the possibility of also providing bivalent Covid-19 vaccines to the general population.