The government on Friday called on the 1.5 million unvaccinated senior citizens to get inoculated against COVID-19, saying they might put the country at risk.
Acting presidential spokesman Karlo Nograles made the appeal as new cases of COVID-19 doubled in the last few days.
“We have 210 million COVID-19 vaccine doses delivered [so far]. The numbers speak for themselves. Get the message: it is time to get your jabs. The 1.5 million seniors who are unvaccinated, they can fill up our hospitals),” Nograles said in a mix of English and Filipino.
“We cannot be complacent; we cannot take anything for granted. The Omicron threat is real,” he said, referring to the latest, highly infectious variant of the coronavirus. “Get vaccinated against COVID-19 so you won’t end up in hospitals.”
About 50 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, nearly reaching the government’s 54-million target by the end of the year, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez announced Friday.
“This last shipment completes all procurement by the government for the year 2021,” said Herbosa at the NAIA Terminal.
Herbosa said, so far, the Philippines received 210 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from different manufacturers.
He urged the public to get their second dose of COVID-19 vaccines as well as a booster dose if eligible to protect themselves from the Omicron variant.
Herbosa said the Pfizer vaccines will be given as booster shots especially now that the country is seeing a rise in COVID-19 cases in the past days.
“Very important because our cases are rising. We are reminding people to get vaccinated and get booster doses. Pfizer vaccines are very useful because of the high cases in the past seven days,” he said.
He also reminded the public to be mindful of minimum public health standards during the new year revelry.
Wearing of face masks, physical distancing, opting to hold outdoor events instead of indoor events, and congregating only with fully vaccinated individuals are among the reminders from the NTF.
The shipment completes all government-procured deliveries for this year.
About 220 million COVID-19 vaccines have arrived for the vaccination program in the Philippines.
As of Dec. 28, government data showed that more than 48 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated versus COVID-19 while more than
1.6 million have received their booster dose.
About 138 million doses were procured by the government while the rest were donated by other countries and the COVAX facility.
Meanwhile, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the Department of Health (DOH) is preparing to buy the COVID-19 antiviral drug Paxlovid from Pfizer.
Paxlovid, Duque said in an interview on Dobol B TV, yielded an efficacy rate of 89 percent.
“We are preparing for that. The FDA already has an EUA that can be given so we can use these antivirals,” he said, referring to an emergency use authorization.
The US Food and Drug Administration has already authorized the use of Paxlovid, making it the first at-home treatment for COVID-19.
In the Philippines, FDA chief Dr. Eric Domingo said Pfizer has yet to submit its application for EUA for Paxlovid.
“There is no application yet,” Domingo said.
On the other hand, Duque said the efficacy of another antiviral drug, molnupiravir, which is from Merck & Co., has gone down from 50 percent to 30 percent with more data coming in.
“The efficacy of molnupiravir has been declining. From 50 percent, they say it is now only at 30 percent while more real-world data or users are coming in.,” he said.
On Dec. 23, the FDA granted EUA to molnupiravir under the brand name Molnarz.