More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
The current administration has repeatedly wagged their fingers at the "opposition" warning them to not politicize COVID-19. It turns out they are hypocrites in this regard.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque on Tuesday, May 18, claimed that the administration bets for the May 2022 polls will win because of the way the government has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During his virtual press briefing, the Palace official praised the government’s pandemic response.
“(I am not saying that the candidates of the administration will win because of the pandemic, but they will win because of our response to the pandemic),” he said.
“(That includes how we managed the COVID-19 cases and the successful vaccine rollout. I hope that is clear),” Roque added.
That is rather boastful seeing as how the Philippine government has failed in its response to the pandemic with heavy handed lockdowns. The Philippines has the longest running lockdown in the world. The vaccine rollout has not exactly been successful either. In order to get vaccine numbers up Duterte has directed the DOH to not tell people what brand they will be getting until just before they stick them.
It was President Rodrigo Duterte who ordered to no longer announce the vaccine brands to be administered in sites, Malacañang said Thursday.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the President made the order after he saw how people overcrowded vaccination sites that give the US-made Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
(The President ordered that [directive] after he saw the lack of social distancing in sites where the Pfizer vaccine were given.)
Despite the DOH reassuring the public that they will be told on-site which vaccine they will receive others note that this move will only destroy public confidence in the vaccines.
The local medical community on Twitter, however, opposed this new policy, saying that this promotes vaccine distrust instead.
Physician Gideon Lasco stressed how “informed consent” to patients is important in medicine.
“I am shocked that the DOH wants Filipinos to sign up for vaccination not knowing which brand they’ll get. If we are to build vaccine confidence and empower the people, they need more information, not less,” Lasco said.
Dr. Gene Nisperos likewise noted that the lack of transparency will make the public more hesitant to receive the vaccination.
“Dear DOH at IATF, naniniwala talaga kayo na mas magpapabakuna ang mga tao kapag hindi nila alam ang ibabakuna sa kanila?! Yun ngang alam ng tao yung ibabakuna sa kanila eh hirap kayo manghikayat, yun pa kayang hindi nila alam?” Nisperos wrote.
YouTuber Doc Adam also echoed that the public has the right to know.
“This is just so wrong and will just cause even more vaccine hesitancy. Everyone has a right to know which vaccine ang makukuha nila,” he said.
The DOH has responded to this by saying that the right to know has not been taken away as people will be told on-site which vaccine they will be receiving and will have to sign an informed consent letter. But that is splitting hairs as the real issue is that people should know long beforehand so they can either sign up or not sign up. There is talk about Robredo and Duterte doing an ad for the vaccines but the Palace says Robredo must clarify her position on Chinese made vaccines before that happens.
Vice President Leni Robredo must clarify her stand on COVID-19 vaccines developed by China, Malacañang said on Friday, in relation to a suggestion that she and President Rodrigo Duterte appear in an infomercial to boost public confidence in the jabs.
Sen. Joel Villanueva on Thursday suggested that Robredo and Duterte work together on a public service announcement to encourage the public to get vaccinated against COVID-19
(First of all, let us clarify if the Vice President will accept all vaccines because she had earlier declaration in which she seemed to disapprove of Chinese vaccines, and that issue was politicized. It was as if the WPS issue was exchanged for vaccines. Let us clarify VP Robredo's stand first.)
Robredo is "open" to cooperate with the Palace to encourage more people to get vaccinated, said her spokesman Barry Gutierrez.
(If Malacañang cannot set aside politicking even in this simple matter, that's on them. VP Leni has long been taking action, and she is always ready to help. If they are ready, too, she is just there.)
If they did an infomercial would it be exclusively about the Chinese made vaccines? It seems it is the Palace who is politicizing this potential collaboration which once again proves them to be hypocrites.
It appears that some unscrupulous people are selling vaccination slots.
Authorities are investigating reports of clandestine online selling of COVID-19 vaccination slots by people who were reported to have connections with local government units (LGUs).
Entrepreneur Nina Dizon Cabrera shared with the Inquirer her exchange with a person offering to sell vaccination slots from San Juan and Mandaluyong local governments.
Each slot’s price depends on the vaccine brand: for the China-made Sinovac, P6,000 to P8,000 for two doses; US-developed Pfizer vaccine and British Swedish AstraZeneca fetch higher at P10,000 to P12,000 per slot.
The fee comes with a vaccination schedule and booklet.
Martin (not his real name) from Las Piñas said his college classmate offered to sell vaccination slots in Mandaluyong.
When he asked if there would be an issue since he is not a resident of that city and not among the priority groups to be vaccinated, his seller answered that it was an “under-the-table” deal, and he could do it because of “privilege.”
Price for two doses of Pfizer is pegged from P12,500 for those he was acquainted with, and up to P15,000 for those he did not know personally.
Both Cabrera’s and Martin’s sellers claim they were connected to people in their local governments.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) only issued emergency use authorization (EUA) to seven COVID-19 vaccines, including the four brands currently being used—Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Sputnik V.
“The granting of the EUA is not a marketing authorization or a Certificate of Product Registration, hence this cannot be used to market the vaccine commercially,” the FDA said.
One suspect has surrendered but he denies the charges. The FDA's response is rather odd. Instead of outright condemning this action they note that the vaccines are not authorized but only approved for emergency use which means they cannot be sold. That may be something people are not aware of. There is no approved COVID-19 vaccine in the Philippines. They also do not prevent infection of COVID-19.
"(Our appeal to the public is to take what's available because all the vaccines we have here have EUA and they have) very good ang resulta(results) in terms of preventing severe Covid and preventing you from dying from Covid," Dr. Karl Henson of the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Inc. said during the Laging Handa briefing.
How many times can it be said? The vaccine does not prevent infection. It only mitigates the effects of being infected. That is why allowing fully vaccinated foreign tourists into the nation is laughable. They can still carry the virus.
Foreign travelers fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will soon be allowed entry into the Philippines.
A small working group with the heads of the Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) as chair and vice chair, respectively, has been organized by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to study the matter and formulate protocols, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque announced on Friday.
Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat said she had requested the IATF to consider establishing a “green lane” that would expedite the entry of foreigners fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Setting up such a special lane for fully inoculated foreign travelers may just do the trick for the Philippines’ pandemic-hit tourism industry, Puyat said in a statement issued on Friday.
“The green lane will pave the way for the reopening of our tourist destinations to leisure travelers who are now fully vaccinated,” Puyat said, adding:
“It will give the jobs back to many of our tourism workers and gradually revive the tourism industry under safe conditions.”
The comment section for this article is great becausae many commenters see the problem here. Why would any foreigners wish to come here when they would be subjected to all manner of nonsense including mandatory face masks, face shields, social distancing, and other protocols? Not to mention they would still likely have to quarantine for 7 days upon arrival just in case since the vaccine does not actually immunize anyone and even the vaccinated can carry the virus.
Iloilo City has seen a rise in cases and has reverted to MECQ until the end of May. Depiste this they cannot expand their hospital bed capacity because PhilHealth has failed to reimburse their claims.
Hospitals in Iloilo City are full and state insurer PhilHealth has yet to reimburse their claims, Mayor Jerry Treñas said Monday after the metro was placed under modified enhanced community quarantine to curb the rise in COVID-19 cases.
The mayor said he was set to meet with PhilHealth president and CEO Dante Gierran on Tuesday. He added that he has met with the state insurer and hospitals for 3 times already.
Medical facilities cannot expand their COVID-19 bed capacity as their personnel are also infected, Treñas said.
(Our problem right now is our hospitals are full and PhilHealth owes them a lot. They can't add more rooms because of 2 reasons: one because of PhilHealth.)
"Another reason is I think two or three of our hospitals, ang mga medical personnel nila infected na rin (their medical personnel are also infected)."
Like other municipalities Iloilo continues to vaccinate its citizens in order to fight the virus. Now local researchers are launching a real world study into the effects of the virus on the public.
The Philippines is set to undertake a P100-million study on the effects of COVID-19 vaccines on Filipinos, an official from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said Tuesday.
The research seeks to answer questions on the vaccines' effects as determined by ethnicity and how long their efficacy would last on Filipinos, DOST Undersecretary Rowena Guevara said in an online press conference.
(While the Department of Health is vaccinating people, we will select participants we will follow for a year or so and see what happens to them.)
"We expect that every quarter there will be milestones. Every quarter puwede kaming magreport (We can release reports every quarter)," she said.
The study is expected to begin in June with 1,000 participants, but the number may change depending on the research design that would be approved.
They are going to determine "how long their efficacy would last on Filipinos" and "see what happens to them." This is the kind of stuff that is supposed to be done during the trial period. What more evidence do we need that this whole vaccine rollout is an experiment? Remember the vaccines are only approved for emergency use and are not authorized to fight the vaccine.
