BY GERARD NAVAL and JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR
VACCINE hesitancy in the country is down to 10 percent from around 30 percent, with those refusing to get COVID-19 jabs mostly “anti-vaxxers,” Health Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega said yesterday.
He said government is taking all efforts to convince the remaining 10 percent to get vaccinated.
As of February 16, about 61.9 million individuals have been fully vaccinated. The government is targeting to fully vaccinate about 90 million Filipinos and giving booster shots to some 72 million by the end of President Duterte’s term in June. The rest of the population will be fully vaccinated and get their booster under the new administration.
Last week, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said 10 of the 17 regions in the country have fully vaccinated 70 percent of their population but the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) is far behind with only a 28.02 percent full vaccination rate which he attributed to vaccine hesitancy.
President Duterte recently said Muslims in Mindanao are still refusing vaccination against COVID-19 because of the belief that vaccination is not allowed by their religion.
The latest survey of the Social Weather Stations (December 2021 and released last month) showed that in Mindanao, 46 percent will surely get vaccinated (from 239 percent in September, 41 percent in June and 34 percent in May 2021). The survey also showed 8 percent will not get vaccinated (from 25 percent in September, 24 percent in June and 30 percent in May 2021).
Vega, in an interview with radio DZBB, said: “At the start talaga, since last year, meron talagang hesitancy ‘yan na mga 30 percent, although bumaba na ngayon, mga nasa 10 percent na lang (At the start, since last year, hesitancy was at 30 percent although it has gone down to around 10 percent now).”
The government started the vaccination drive in March 2021.
“Meron talagang 10 percent sa population na medyo anti-vax talaga at medyo hard line (Some 10 percent of the population are somewhat anti-vax and somewhat hard line),” he also said adding the government is encouraging them to get jabbed and is making sure they have access to vaccines.
Infectious disease expert Dr. Rontgene Solante said that with the high vaccination rate in the country, especially in Metro Manila, there has been a decrease in the hospitalization of COVID patients.
He said that at the government-run San Lazaro where he is affiliated, for instance, from having full hospital bed use at the time of the surge brought about by the Omicron variant, they now receive one patient at a time and these are usually those who are either unvaccinated or those who are vaccinated but are immunocompromised or have comorbidity.
He reiterated the importance of being vaccinated aside from following minimum health protocols such as wearing a face mask.
Solante also said vaccines specific to COVID-19 variants may be needed in the future to get better and longer protection against the virus, especially from the more contagious variant like Omicron and its subvariant BA.2.
Solante, in an interview with radio DZBB, made the comment amid talks of a second booster or fourth jab to counter the waning effect of the first generation of vaccines and the reduced protection from recent variants.
“What the vaccine experts panel foresees is if we will impose jabs, maybe it’s better to wait for the Omicron-specific or variant-specific vaccines so protection will be longer and you won’t need to be inoculated repeatedly),” he said in Filipino.
He, however, said studies and clinical trials for variant-specific vaccines have just started in some countries and it may take a while until the new vaccines come out.
Studies said that vaccines, even from popular brands may need to be followed with a booster after three to four months to ensure the continued protection of an individual against severe to critical COVID and the new variants.
Solante said while it is not advised for the general public, a second booster or fourth shot may be considered for the vulnerable sector such as those who are immunocompromised and those with comorbidities.
‘BAYANIHAN’
Dr. Ma. Paz Corrales, at the arrival on Saturday night of 1.138 million doses of Pfizer vaccines donated by Australia, said the government was able to administer three million of the five million doses of vaccines targeted for the third phase of Bayanihan, Bakunahan program.
“There are a lot of factors that’s why we were unable to reach our target. One is the occurrence of typhoon `Odette,’ and most health care workers were affected with COVID, and there’s a little percent of vaccine hesitancy still among Filipinos,” she said.
More than 128.7 million doses of vaccines have been administered nationwide, including 65.67 million doses as first shots.
Paz said 329,000 five-to-11-year-olds also received their first shots.
Solante reiterated the importance of raising the vaccination rate along with the continued lowering of COVID cases to removing the mandatory wearing of face masks.
He said the faster the COVID cases go down, and the faster the number of fully vaccinated and those who received booster goes up, the faster the possibility of removing the mask will be.
Solante said he has been monitoring the BA.1 and BA.2 variant cases, both in the country and abroad, and if both drastically decrease to a point that they no longer cause a surge in cases, it could be an indicator that wearing of face masks finally may be dropped.
He said BA.2 infections have already been detected in the country and it is more contagious by 1.5-fold compared to the Omicron. He said it also has a “tendency to be more severe” based on new studies.
Solante said for now, wearing of masks remains vital along with being vaccinated. Reports said the dropping of the mandatory use of face masks would “most likely” be dropped by the fourth quarter of the year.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire the need for booster shots for fully vaccinated adolescents, or those aged 12 to 17 years, is still under study.
“International experts are still assessing the safety and effectiveness it can provide in case we do this,” she said.
VAXXED INMATES
At least 26,000 inmates in the New Bilibid Prison and six other penal colonies operated by the Bureau of Corrections are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
The bureau’s Health Service said this represented 54 percent of the 48,300 inmates in the national penitentiary as well as in the six other penal colonies nationwide.
Aside from the NBP, the BuCor also operates the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong city, Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro, San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga city, Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan, Leyte Regional Prison in Abuyog, Leyte and the Davao Prison and Penal Farm in Davao del Norte.
Of those fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the BuCor said 9,200 are in the NBP, over 6,000 in the Davao Penal Colony and over 3,000 in the Correctional Institute for Women.
The NBP is the largest BuCor-operated prison facility with 28,500 inmates, including over 17,000 in its maximum security compound.
Earlier, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Galvez has assured him that all inmates under the BuCor will be inoculated.
In 2020, nine high profile Bilibid inmates including Jaybee Sebastian, who testified to the alleged drug links of detained senator Leila de Lima when she was still DOJ secretary, succumbed to COVID-19. — With Ashzel Hachero