MANY health pundits including legitimate health authorities are saying that they fear a surge in the incidence of COVID-19 just days after the May 9, 2022 elections.
The reason cited is obvious: there have been numerous well-attended political rallies, caucuses, motorcades and house-to-house calls that threw all previous health protocols we know, save for the wearing of face masks. Social distancing, no skin-to-skin contact, kissing and hugging have been thrown into the wind — along with all caution. We should feel lucky that despite the transgressions, the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) still took it upon itself to assess the COVID-19 situation fairly, and forthwith expanded the list of Alert Level 1 localities in the country.
‘… booster shots might not be 100 percent guarantee that there will be no COVID-19 reinfection especially among individuals with weak immune systems, but it can give added protection from the coronavirus.’
President Duterte did his part when he called on the public to receive their COVID-19 booster shots before they vote on May 9 to protect themselves from possible infections in polling places where crowding is to be expected.
In his Talk to the People TV program aired on Tuesday morning, the President said: “There will be crowding again of people congregating and it would be good to have the booster shots before you go out and mix with the crowd.”
There are people who say that the two-dose COVID-19 vaccine is enough for ordinary individuals and that booster shots are redundant. To this, Duterte explained that the booster shots might not be 100 percent guarantee that there will be no COVID-19 reinfection especially among individuals with weak immune systems, but it can give added protection from the coronavirus.
The President is happy — and we share this good feeling — about the Department of Health’s report that more than 67.9 million individuals, or 75.45% of the government’s target population, are now fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, some 13.2 million Filipinos have received their booster shots, it added.
Let us keep these numbers, and even increase them, even as we face the so-called risky post-election period.
