What is a booster shot and why do we need it?

With 7 million doses allotted for priority groups, the government started to administer
Coronavirus booster shots last November 17. Recently, the Department of Health (DOH) also
authorized the rollout of booster shots for everyone aged 18 and older. But what is a booster
shot and why is it important?
To define, booster shot, according to World Health Organization (WHO), refer to the
doses administered to a vaccinated population after receiving a primary vaccination series
when, in time, the immunity and protection start to wane off and are deemed insufficient for the
population.
And after a series of studies, the importance of booster shots is proven to make the
protection of the primary doses stronger and last longer. Furthermore, it is essential for people
who did not respond adequately to the primary doses, mostly immunocompromised people, to
receive the booster because the first two (or one) do not have the same effect on them as they
do on normal people. Lastly, the primary doses may be inadequate against the emerging
variants of concern with the “Omicron” variant as the latest.
“This isn’t because the vaccine isn’t effective. It’s because the immune systems of these
individuals need the additional dose as part of their primary series to reach the level of immunity
that best protects them from severe illness or hospitalization,” Sandy Salverson, vice president
of Pharmacy Operations at OSF HealthCare, stated. Octa Researcher’s Guido David supports
that case inflation would likely happen if booster shots are not administered similarly to what
happened in other countries.
Meanwhile, according to the guidelines of the Department of Health (DOH), those who
are vaccinated with Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Sinovac, Gamaleya, and AstraZeneca can
receive their booster shots at least six months after the completion of the primary dose series
while it should be at least three months for those who received Ad26.COV2.s (Janssen).