More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
Bloomberg profiled 53 countries in a COVID-19 resilience index. The Philippines came in at the bottom, 52. The response from the Palace was quite unexpected. Instead of dismissing the survey they accepted the results but blamed rich countries for hoarding vaccines.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1155073 |
“We take note of Bloomberg’s latest Covid-19 Resilience Ranking report,” Roque said in a press statement. “We are not surprised that the Philippines, together with other Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam are at the bottom of the list while countries which topped the list are developed countries such as Ireland, Spain, Netherlands, Finland and Denmark.”Roque acknowledged that Covid-19 vaccines are vital in the Philippines’ fight against the dreaded disease.He, however, said the Philippines is a “classic case” of poor nations with lack of vaccine supplies because of rich countries’ supposed hoarding of the “life-saving” jabs.“Vaccines are key towards defeating Covid -19. Unfortunately, as President Rodrigo Roa Duterte articulated in the United Nations (UN), ‘rich countries hoard life-saving vaccines, while poor nations wait for trickles.’ The Philippines is a classic case in point, where inoculation is highly dependent on the availability and stability of vaccine supplies,” Roque said.
In classic fashion Roque ignores some very important details. The most important being that the government has received millions of doses of vaccines and has imposed rotating, economically crippling lockdowns. The most recent one in Manila destroyed thousands of more jobs.
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| https://www.philstar.com/business/2021/09/30/2130793/fresh-lockdowns-destroy-more-jobs-august |
Fresh restrictions imposed in August to curb the spread of hyper-contagious Delta variant threw more people into unemployment during the month.
There were 3.88 million people who were either unemployed or out of business in the Philippines in August, up from 3.07 million in July, results of a survey of 10,919 households by the Philippine Statistics Authority showed Thursday.
That translated to a jobless rate of 8.1% in August, up from 6.9% in July. For economic officials, the higher unemployment figure was “expected” due to the brief return to enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) last month to arrest a renewed surge in infections.
Even Bloomberg issued a rebuttal to Roque's assertion that the Philippines' low ranking being due to vaccine hoarding.
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| https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-29/why-the-philippines-just-became-the-worst-place-to-be-in-covid |
The Philippines’ drop to No. 53 reflects the challenges it’s facing from the onslaught of the delta variant, which has hit Southeast Asia particularly hard amid difficulties containing the more contagious strain and slow vaccination rollouts. The region, which recently had the worst outbreak in the world, populates the September Ranking’s lowest rungs, with Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam all in the bottom five.
The Philippines faces a perfect storm in that it’s grappling with the more ferocious delta variant at the same time as it works with an inadequate testing regime and sees disruptions to its economy and people’s livelihoods as the pandemic continues to rage.
The country scores low on all four of our metrics related to reopening, and with a vaccine coverage rate of 20% -- among the lowest of those ranked -- the Philippines is engaged in one of the most stringent lockdowns of the 53. Its Flight Capacity, which measures how far air travel has gotten back to normal, is 74% below 2019 levels and the Philippines’ borders remain sealed to visitors.
On Covid containment, the Philippines underperforms too. While its cases per capita over the past month are a fifth of what vaccine frontrunner Israel has seen, the Philippines had the second-worst positive test rate in the Ranking, at 27% -- only better than Mexico. The metric indicates the government is only testing the sickest patients for Covid and that there’s likely high levels of undetected infection in the community.
Meanwhile, the outbreak has extracted large economic and social costs, as shown in metrics related to quality of life. Community mobility remains 29% below a pre-pandemic benchmark, and the economy is forecast to grow 4.5% this year, less than estimated before delta’s spread. The Philippines also has weaker healthcare infrastructure compared to other ranked places, and a lower Human Development Index score to cushion the virus hit.
The most significant impediment to the Philippines’ response has been its limited access to vaccines. The country has used a disparate range of shots to try and ramp up the rollout:
The Philippines’ handling of the pandemic was also hampered by a 1991 law that made city, town and village leaders responsible for the health system. Without uniform guidance, village-level health teams often follow rules set by mayors or chieftains, resulting in a fragmented response to Covid.
Lingering lockdowns to quell the persistently high infections pushed the Philippines’ economy back into contraction in the second quarter from the previous three months.
While Bloomberg does say that the limited access to vaccines is the "most significant impediment to the Philippines' response" it also does not hesitate to mention the crippling lockdowns which are just as significant for the bad economy.
But even though the Philippines has limited access to vaccines that is not stopping the country from harming the economy by limiting the access of unvaccinated persons.
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| https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/09/30/ban-on-unvaccinated-not-a-glut-behind-tomato-dumping/ |
FARMERS in Northern Luzon dumped about 6,000 kilograms of tomatoes not because of oversupply but because of non-arrival of buyers, who were barred from entering the area due to “no vaccination, no entry” policies enforced by local government units (LGUs) in certain checkpoints.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) explained that the reason behind the unsold tomatoes of a farmer named Enza Aguinao of Tubeng, Ap-apid in Tinoc, Ifugao was the stringent implementation of no vaccination, no entry policy in various checkpoints by LGUs.
The DA added that this was according to Ifugao provincial agriculturist Dr. Domingo Mariano, as affirmed by Diego Madino, a stall owner at the Nueva Vizcaya Agriculture Terminal (NVAT). Madino said that about 6 metric tons (MT) of tomatoes were dumped in Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya due to lack of buyers.
What did they expect when so little of the population has been vaccinated? They are only just now allowing the general population to receive the vaccination. This is an unbelievable and avoidable waste.
Those who are vaccinated will not only be able to access all the tomatoes they need but they will also be eligible for P3 million in prizes,
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| https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/04/21/p3-m-worth-of-prizes-up-for-grabs-for-those-vaccinated-vs-covid |
The Philippine government on Monday said a total of P3 million in cash prizes will be raffled among Filipinos who are vaccinated against COVID-19.
The prizes include P1 million for the grand draw in December.
The announcement of the raffle promo at an event at SM City Clark in Pampanga said 100 winners will be picked during the monthly draw that begins this month. The prize for the monthly winners was not disclosed.
Partially vaccinated people are entitled to one raffle entry, and will get 2 more entries once they complete their vaccination.
Those who receive single-dose vaccines will get 3 raffle entries.
Senior citizens are entitled to double the number of raffle entries.
The raffle promo is sponsored by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, in partnership with the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation and the Department of Health, according to the announcement.
Different kinds of incentives for those who get COVID-19 shots have been offered in other localities in the country, and in many parts of the world amid vaccine hesitancy among some members of the population.
- Senior citizens will get six entires to win P1 million and other prizes. The Philippine government is no stranger to bribing the citizenry. That is how they hope to defeat the NPA.
- The film industry in the Philippines has been hit hard by the pandemic with significantly less films being produced and reviewed by the MTRCB.
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| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/805201/mtrcb-reports-significant-drop-in-film-reviews-in-2021/story/ |
The Movie and Television Review Classification Board (MTRCB) on Thursday reported a "significant drop" in the number of films it has reviewed so far — only 35 in the first eight months of 2021.
According to MTRCB registration officer Atty. Ann Marie Nemenzo, the average number of films being reviewed by the board per year is about 200 to 300.
“You will see the statistics on the film review [as of August 2021] and you will notice that there is a significant drop in the number of films that we reviewed for this year. Since January, it’s only a total of 35 films,” Nemenzo told the Senate in a budget briefing.
Movie theaters have yet to open in many areas in the Philippines amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which also put on hold many movie-making activities not just in the country but globally.
Aside from reviewed films, Nemenzo also said there is also a significant decrease in film trailers with 39 in total since the start of 2021.
Meanwhile, there are 64,625 television programs and 248 non-video publicity materials that were so far reviewed by the MTRCB.
Nemenzo also reported that they were able to reach 100% of their target number of reviewed materials with 115,320 videos that were reviewed and
- Well. at least they met their target goal which is more than can be said for the DOH and their vaccination program. But now that election season is gearing up can we expect the government to finally do their jobs?
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1155696 |
Booster shots, evaluation of current local government units’ (LGU) policies, and vaccination during election season are part of the National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19’s recalibrated national vaccination program for the remaining months of 2021 and until next year.
NTF chief Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. on Monday night presented the government's key considerations in recalibrating the inoculation plan during President Rodrigo Duterte’s Talk to People aired late Monday.
Among the immediate goals are a "better Christmas and safe election period" and gradual resumption of face-to-face classes, Galvez said.
The key phases of the recalibrated strategies include securing the safety, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness of the different Covid-19 vaccines; assessment on the current vaccine rollout of some cities experiencing inflection point; reevaluation of LGUs’ handling capacities; review of sustainable vaccination program in the fourth quarter of 2021; crafting vaccine security roadmap amid the presence of Covid-19 variants and reformulated booster shots; review of the vaccine portfolios; and vaccination strategies during the May 2022 national and local elections.
"(Our most desired outcome here is to have a safe, equitable, and cost-effective vaccination program for the pediatric population, usage of booster shots, and inoculation of the general population by the fourth quarter this year)," Galvez said.
Galvez said the government will continue to adopt the "focus and expand" vaccination strategy in high-risk or critical areas.
"We are negotiating with four to five manufacturers to sign non-binding term sheets to lock-in the allocations of 90 million doses starting first quarter [of 2022]," Galvez said.
The Department of Finance, he added, is already preparing for multilateral funding worth PHP45 billion, in partnership with the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
The Philippines is set to complete the estimated 160 million doses of secured Covid-19 vaccines by the end of the year.
"To reiterate, the delivery of 100 million doses before the end of October 2021, and the delivery of 140 to 160 million doses before the end of the year," he said.
The NTF plans to administer at least 100 million doses before 2022.
"And then we are targeting to give, to vaccinate all the targeted population before the start of the election period in February 2022," he said.
- It's a very ambitious plan. They should have started working on it last year.
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