Business owners and employers hit the government anew on segregation plans of mobile vaccinated from the mobile unvaccinated population in entry to malls and shops as well as in transportation.
In the weekly forum Tapatan sa Aristocrat, Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) president Sergio Ortiz-Luis said it was illogical for the government to propose such a measure when the vaccinated population remained a minority.
“What’s the point of opening the malls, retail stores and shops when there is no foot traffic. If unvaccinated people are not allowed to go to malls or restaurants, the more that business will turn for the worse. They will have a difficult time to achieve break-even (sales),” he said.
The same goes for the planned separate lanes or queues for the vaccinated and the unvaccinated that will only render workers to rethink their predicament and “many may be forced not to go to work, at all.”
“That [bubbles for vaccinated people] won’t work, because as what is happening there has been a dearth in mass transportation in Metro Manila. In EDSA alone, the traffic is so bad because many employees have resorted to bringing their own vehicles. Even vehicles that are not road-worthy are on the road due to lack of reliable transportation,” Ortiz-Luis said.
For his part, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said he supports the proposal to reduce mobility restrictions for vaccinated individuals even as he acknowledged this could trigger a legal challenge.
“I’ve always been supportive of that concept,” Duque said in a separate online Go Negosyo forum.
“But the problem is when I consulted with the Justice Secretary, a member of the IATF as well, he is worried about the legal ramifications of this and we might be subject to legal challenge if not actual filing of cases against us if we do translate this into policy. There has to be a legal basis. Right now we don’t, so that is a big obstacle,” Duque said.
Ortiz-Luis said what was important was to make it easier for the working population to reach their place of work.
“Allow all the buses to come in. And even with this happening, available transportation will be enough to transport the commuting public because of social spacing,” he added.
In a separate forum, the EpiMetrics. Inc, an independent consultation and services firm, said Monday that despite claims of the government of declining COVID reproduction rate, the country needed to achieve not only herd immunity of 70 percent but the entire population needed to be vaccinated to keep the virus at bay.
Vaccine hesitancy
The Vaccine Solidarity Movement (VSM), an organization of influential medical organizations and globally-recognized experts, has blamed anti-vaccine people as the source of vaccine hesitancy.
In an online press briefing, the VSM medical coalition convened and agreed to pursue medical professionals who have been actively campaigning to dissuade their fellow Filipinos from getting COVID-19 vaccines.
“We denounce all medical practitioners who deliberately cause panic, fear, and confusion among the public by making their anti-vaccination views known. You cannot call yourself a doctor or a medical expert if you’re an anti-vaxxer. There is no room in the medical field for people who question the validity and the scientifically proven positive effects of vaccines,” the group said.
Abalos’ warning
With less than half of the target population in Metro Manila fully inoculated, Metro Manila Development Authority chief Benhur Abalos warned authorities would arrest persons who would get a booster shot.
“I am prohibiting you, we will put you in jail, don’t do it because everything will be recorded,” said Abalos.
About 43.5 percent or 4,262,546 individuals in the National Capital Region are now fully inoculated, from the eligible 9,800,000 residents.
Emergency use
The Philippine government has approved the emergency use authorization of Sputnik Light, the one-dose COVID-19 vaccine developed by Russia, officials said.
Food and Drug Administration chief Eric Domingo, in a text message to ABS-CBN News, said regulators approved the EUA of Sputnik Light vaccine last Friday.
On the other hand, vaccine “czar” Carlito Galvez said this would allow the country to follow up its order for 10 million doses.
Sputnik Light is the ninth COVID-19 vaccine approved by the Philippines, along with vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, China’s Sinovac and Sinopharm, and Russia’s 2-dose Sputnik V.
Malampaya gas field
In related developments, Malacanang gave assurances the 20-day maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya gas field would not lead to brownouts that might affect the storage of COVID 19 vaccines.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the Malampaya gas field was scheduled to shut down on October 2 to 22, 2021 for corrective maintenance work, which would involve the testing of shutdown valves, emergency depressurization systems tests, and the repair of a heat exchanger.
Malampaya provides fuel for three gas-fired plants in Batangas, which generate a total of 2,700 megawatts.
Bulk shipments
Cabinet Secretary and Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) co-chairman Karlo Nograles said millions of Pfizer and Moderna vaccine doses would be added to the pipeline next month, a big boost to the government’s mass inoculation rollout.
The shipments are part of the 60 million doses ordered by the Philippine government from the two drug manufacturers in the United States.
Nograles said the government purchased 40 million doses from Pfizer and 20 million doses from Moderna.
He added the Philippines is also expected to receive in September the rest of the COVID-19 vaccines it ordered from Sinovac, which has already delivered 21 million doses out of the 25 million doses purchased by the government.
Taguig inoculation
The City of Taguig has inoculated for first dose 586,430 individuals out of the 611,086 target population of the Department of Health for vaccination against COVID-19.
“The city government has logged 95.97 percent or 586,430 individuals vaccinated for the first dose out of its 611,086 target eligible population for vaccination based on the Department of Health’s projected population for 2021,” said Mayor Lino Edgardo Cayetano.
Cayetano said Taguig also continued its extensive COVID-19 safety measures implementation and vaccination rollout to give protection for more residents and workers.