THE Department of Health yesterday said the country still has a long way to go in terms of achieving “herd immunity” through vaccination against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
In a virtual press briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said a lot needs to be done for the the country to meet the target of inoculating 70 percent of the population by the end of the year.
“We still have a long way to go. We need to ramp up our vaccination efforts. Hopefully, our supplies will stabilize already so that we can increase the number of fully vaccinated individuals,” said Vergeire.
As of June 13, about 5 million individuals have received the first vaccine dose, and at least 1.9 million have completed two doses.
The country has received some 12.6 million doses since February. The national vaccination program started on March 1.
“Following the initial target of 70 million, we have covered 7 percent of the target eligible population for the first dose, and 2 percent of the target eligible population completed the second dose,” said the DOH.
Among those administered are the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines which are set to expire this and next month. Vergeire said all the expiring doses have been distributed by the DOH to different vaccination sites.
Earlier, the Philippines received over 2 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines from the COVAX Facility with expiration dates of June and July. About 1.5 million jabs are set to expire by end of June, while the remaining 500,000 doses are expiring by July
Vergeire also said more individuals belonging to the A4 priority group (frontline workers) want to be vaccinated as shown by crowding in vaccination sites.
So far, 152,964 frontline workers have been given the first doses, and 7,021 the second dose.
On the other hand, the health official said members of the A5 priority group, or the indigent population, may be immunized as long as the vaccine supply of the local government will permit it.
“This is already allowed, but it will depend n our supplies. If LGUs see that they can already do so, they can do that because the guidelines are already there. It won’t violate anything,” said the official.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson pushed for a vaccine passport system that will make travelling to the Philippines easier for people who have been vaccinated.
Lacson said Filipinos returning from abroad and foreign investors have been reluctant to come to the Philippines due to strict measures which require them to spend more than a week in a quarantine facility not necessarily of their choice, even if they have been fully vaccinated.
He said it is about time for the government to come up with a vaccine passport system.
“For our returning OFWs, at most, we might require them to take a swab test then allow them to go home, then require them to stay at home for 10 days. No need to require them to stay at a hotel. Most of the time, OFWs return to the country because of an emergency.
But if you are an OFW and you are required to be quarantined for 10 days, how many days of your leave will go to waste? I don’t think that makes sense,” Lacson said in an interview on ANC.
“Also, our tourism sector and investment will suffer. If a potential investor who would like to come here learns of the requirements that include a swab test and stay at a quarantine facility not of his or her choice, would he or she still come?” he added.
He said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases should fine-tune the protocols. — With Raymond Africa
