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Friday, March 29, 2024

50M jabs needed to remove face mask, shields–NTF adviser

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The Philippines needs to reach a population of around 49 million to 50 million fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before the face masks and face shields could be ditched, a government adviser said Thursday.

At present, the country only has about three million people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 so far.

Dr. Ted Herbosa, adviser of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, made the response when asked when the country can lift the COVID-19 restrictions.

The government’s COVID-19 vaccination program is already in its fifth month.

“We can remove face masks and face shields if we [have] already vaccinated between 49 to 50 million. We should bear wearing face masks, face shields, washing our hands, and avoid crowded areas,” Herbosa said during the Laging Handa briefing.

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Of the 12 million Filipinos who already got at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, only three million of them have completed two doses so far, Herbosa said.

The government is also having issues about strong vaccine hesitancy among senior citizens which are the second most vulnerable to the virus next to health workers, said Herbosa.

Herbosa said only 29 percent of senior citizens already got vaccinated.

“Vaccine hesitancy is high among them; they argue that they are already old and such vaccines should be given to the younger ones. But this is wrong,” Herbosa said.

“It is the elderly who really need to be vaccinated before the young because if they get infected, they can be hospitalized, (placed) in an intensive care unit and (may) die. That is why we are appealing to them to get vaccinated so they will be protected,” he added.

The government has tasked local government units (LGUs) to prioritize giving second doses due to delayed delivery of COVID-19 vaccine supply.

Before such a directive was made, a number of LGUs in the National Capital Region such as Parañaque, Muntinlupa and Taguig had to temporarily suspend the vaccination program due to lack of supply.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana earlier said the government had no timeline yet for the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions pending the vaccination of at least 50 percent of the population.

COVID update

The Philippines logged on Thursday 5,484 new cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), bringing the total to 1,455,585, the Department of Health reported.

The DOH reported 191 new fatalities, bringing the death toll to 25,650.

The DOH also reported 3,925 persons who recently recovered, bringing the total recoveries to 1,380,899.

The DOH reported 49,036 active cases, of which 90.9 percent were mild, 3.7 percent were asymptomatic, 1.5 percent were critical, 2.2 percent were severe, and 1.62 percent were moderate.

In Metro Manila, 43 percent of ICU beds, 37 percent of isolation beds, 33 percent of ward beds, and 31 percent of ventilators, were in use.

Galvez on vax

The national government can administer 70 million first doses of COVID-19 vaccines by November, vaccine czar secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said Thursday.

In an ANC interview, Galvez said: “Realistically speaking, we can achieve 70 million first doses. That is what we want to achieve before November.”

Galvez added the government is eyeing to inoculate 40 million Filipinos with the first dose of COVID-19 vaccines by the third quarter of 2021.

The vaccine czar also admitted that the national government’s vaccination plan was “ambitious” like how World Health Organization representative to the Philippines Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe described it in a recent interview.

Galvez said: “The IATF and NTF believe that the higher targets and standards, the better. We made our plan very ambitious so that we could push the LGUs and the national government to its limits and its potential.”

Galvez expressed confidence the government can do 500,000 jabs per day.

WHO target

Based on the target set by the WHO, all countries should individually vaccinate 10 percent of its population by September 2021, 40 percent by the end of 2021, and 70 percent by June 2022 regardless of its economic status.

On Tuesday morning, Secretary Vince Dizon, deputy chief implementer of the government’s pandemic response, said the Philippines has so far administered 12 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since the start of the rollout in March.

The average number of doses administered daily stood at 254,141 as of July 4.

The vaccine brands that are currently part of the Philippines’ portfolio are Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Sputnik V, and Moderna.

Fully vaccinated

More than 3.08 million Filipinos are now fully vaccinated while some 12.5 million COVID 19 vaccines have been administered as of July 7, 2021, attributing to the decline in coronavirus infections in the country, Malacanang reported Thursday.

In a press briefing, Palace spokesman Harry Roque assured the public that another two batches of AstraZeneca vaccines are expected to arrive in the country this week.

“It was a conservative number because we are expecting the number to increase once reports from LGUs and private sectors arrive,” Roque said.

The government is expecting two batches of AstraZeneca vaccines, the first donated by the Japanese government, while the second batch will come from COVAX Facility.

“Aside from the AstraZeneca vaccine deliveries, two more batches of Sputnik V vaccines are also expected to be delivered this week, which is meant for both component 1 and 2,” he added.

He also reminded the public that all vaccines are free, and for the public to get their second dose.

‘Sluggish rollout’

Senator Risa Hontiveros was dismayed over the “sluggish vaccine rollout” in the country, saying it is insufficient to protect the population against more transmissible COVID-19 variants.

While the senator acknowledged that more than 10 million people have received their jabs, the senator is dismayed that the COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force’s (IATF) own targets are yet to be accomplished.

“It’s good news that millions of Filipinos have already been vaccinated against COVID-19. But the latest report indicated this is still far from the number of population that needs to be protected,” said Hontiveros.

“It’s a dismay because when we were looking for supplies, they told us vaccines were arriving. But now, this wasn’t realized,” added Hontiveros.

Aside from the threat of new variants, the statement also comes amid reports of local government units (LGU) cancelling their vaccination schedules for lack of supply.

“Many LGUs have aired their readiness for a vaccination roll out. They have cold storage facilities, vaccinators, dedicated places, high vaccine confidence, but the IATF failed to give them vaccines,” Hontiveros stressed.

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