More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1190835 |
The Negros Occidental provincial government gained the support of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in its continued efforts to increase coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccination among Negrenses.
Dr. Ernell Tumimbang, provincial health officer, Thursday said both the UNICEF and the USAID have been deploying social mobilizers in localities with low vaccination rates.
“There are still many unvaccinated individuals but more so, we are lagging behind in our booster doses, (particularly) the second boosters. Our development partners are now helping us for demand generation,” Tumimbang said.
Tumimbang said the UNICEF, with its partner non-government organization, Relief International, have assigned social mobilizers to areas in the cities of Sipalay and Kabankalan and the municipality of Cauayan in the south and in San Carlos City in the north.
He added that USAID’s ReachHealth project has sent similar personnel in the towns of Toboso and Calatrava, also in the north.
“They are the ones creating demand (for vaccines). They convince people to get vaccinated. They focus more on those groups that are still hesitant. Those that their stand can still be reversed. They are giving us good results even just gradually,” Tumimbang said.
He also said that UNICEF has expressed willingness to continue their social mobilization efforts in Negros Occidental up to June next year.
USAID and UNICEF are "creating demand" for vaccines by going out to the far flung villages and convincing people to get the experimental COVID jab. But will they convince them to get the full round including boosters.
Simbang Gabi is starting and face mask usage is a must for some churches.
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| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/854638/face-mask-social-distancing-still-a-must-in-some-churches-during-simbang-gabi/story/ |
With the start of the anticipated Simbang Gabi on Thursday, December 15, 2022, most churches are already at full capacity. However, mass-goers are still required to follow health and safety protocols such as social distancing and wearing facemasks.
Mariz Umali reported on "24 Oras" that some churches, such as the Manila Cathedral and Quiapo Church, expect more people to attend mass this year compared to last year.
Meanwhile, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) and the Philippine National Police Air Unit (PNP-Au) carried out strict security measures in various churches in Metro Manila.
“We also monitor the security coverage for Simbang Gabi.,” said NCRPO spokesperson Police Lieutenant Colonel Dexter Versola.
One thing the pandemic did was expose the weakness of the Philippines health system. To that end the House has finally passed a bill to create a Center for Disease Control.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1190604 |
A Philippine Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) will soon be created as the bill proposing the new agency was approved on final reading at the House of Representatives.
During Monday's plenary session, a total of 255 lawmakers voted to approve House Bill 6522 creating the CDC, which shall be an agency directly under the Office of the Secretary of the Department of Health (DOH).
The bill is included in the list of priority legislation mentioned by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in his first State of the Nation Address.
The CDC shall be vested with technical authority on forecasting, analysis, strategy, formulation and standards development for the prevention and control of all diseases of public health importance and health security events, whether domestic or international in origin.
The CDC shall coordinate with global CDCs and act as the national focal point of the Philippines for international health regulation (IHR) concerns.
The proposed agency shall implement disease surveillance and field epidemiology activities; perform data collection and analytics; recommend actions for public health threats to appropriate national government bodies; lead public health and risk communications; and strengthen public health laboratories, among others.
The bill also mandates the establishment of the following component centers: Center for Health Statistics (CHS), Center for Epidemiology and Surveillance (CES), Center for Health Evidence (CHE) and Center for Health Laboratories (CHL).
If enacted into law, the President, during public health emergencies, may direct the operations of any privately-owned establishment including, among others, hospitals and medical and health facilities, passenger vessels and other private enterprises, to perform functions and provide support services for public health emergency response.
As laudable and even necessary a CDC may be it will ultimately be another cause of corruption as every bureaucracy in this nation is.
9 in 10 Pinoys are apparently not paying attention to how the government is handling the waning pandemic and approve of their actions.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1190991 |
Most Filipinos appreciate the Marcos administration's handling of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), according to the result of the OCTA Research's latest Tugon ng Masa poll.
The survey conducted from Oct. 23 to 27 found that 92 percent of adult Filipinos approve of the government's response to prevent the further spread of Covid-19.
The latest approval score was higher by 10 percent from the 83 percent in March 2022 under the Duterte administration.
Around 49 percent of the respondents said they "truly approve" while 43 percent said they "somewhat approve" of the Marcos administration's Covid-19 response efforts.
Only two percent expressed disapproval while five percent were ambivalent.
How could any sane person approve of how the Marcos administration is handling the COVID-19 situation when he refuses to appoint a DOH secretary? Not to mention that the pandemic is basically over at this point.
The DOH is pushing for importing new bivalent vaccines. Senator Bong Go says they need to make sure no vaccines will be wasted.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2022/12/19/bong-go-to-doh-ensure-jabs-wont-be-wasted-in-plans-to-acquire-bivalent-vaccines/ |
The Department of Health (DOH) should make sure no vaccines would go to waste despite its plan to acquire bivalent COVID-19 vaccines.
Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, made the appeal as he expressed concerns over the effectiveness of the vaccines.
“These bivalent vaccines, first study carefully if it is effective for us now,” Go said in a recent interview in San Nicolas, Batangas.
“There are still vaccines here that have not even been used up, others are already expiring, so I’m sure our health officials know better what to do now. If it is appropriate to buy, will it be necessary?,” Go pointed out.
“Can we convince our countrymen to be injected with it? Not one should be wasted. But the life and health of every Filipino is more important to me. It’s better that we’re ahead so that we won’t be surprised… It’s better that we’re protected from the disease,” he underscored.
DOH Officer-in-Charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire had earlier told senators in a Senate hearing that bivalent vaccines are expected to be available in the country by the first quarter of 2023.
Even the Alliance of Health Workers is urging the DOH to use the remaining jabs by administering a 2nd booster shot.
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| https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/20/22/govt-urged-use-remaining-jabs-before-procuring-bivalent-vaccines |
A health workers group is urging the Department of Health to use up its remaining stores of COVID-19 vaccines before procuring bivalent vaccines to the Philippines.
Alliance of Health Workers president Robert Mendoza warned that procuring COVID vaccines is "becoming a business" as the government continues to procure more jabs despite existing stock and high vaccine wastage.
DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire earlier said the Philippines may have lost P22 billion after 44 million of its COVID-19 vaccines went to waste due mainly to short shelf life.
"It's like becoming a business...Let's not waste our money. Maybe the bivalent vaccines are no longer needed because the current vaccines are effective," Mendoza said in a TeleRadyo interview.
"Consume that first before buying bivalent vaccines," he added.
Mendoza also confirmed that nearly 600,000 of some 1.1 million health workers in the country have yet to receive a 2nd COVID-19 vaccine booster.
He said many health workers are confident with the protection given by 2 COVID-19 vaccine doses plus a booster shot since many health workers are no longer getting sick.
"Maybe the 2 vaccines they received are enough," he said.
Mendoza also backed a proposal to distribute booster shots to the general population particularly senior citizens and those with co-morbidities.
"Even if you build a house, it should be used properly. It's a shame if it can't be used," he said.
- While some health workers may not want a 2nd booster shot they are being made available to a limited part of the population.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1707159/open-second-booster-dose-administration-to-general-public-doh-says-decisions-based-on-science |
Decisions of the Department of Health (DOH) are based on science, Health officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said on Tuesday when asked why the administration of second booster shots against COVID-19 is still not open for the general public.
Vergeire explained that evidence showed that the second booster dose is effective for vulnerable individuals such as the elderly and persons with comorbidities.
(When we are making decisions and policies in the Department of Health, this is based on evidence. It’s based on science.)
(The current evidence for second boosters shows that it is effective for the elderly, those with comorbidities, the vulnerable sector. So up to now, we are offering the second booster shots only for these groups.)
If the agency could, they would provide the vaccines to everyone to avoid vaccine wastage, said Vergeire. However, she reiterated that their decisions are science-based.
Despite the limited second booster shot administration, the health official assured the public that review of evidence is ongoing.
(Our fellow Filipinos do not need to worry because we continue to review evidence.)
The elderly and those with comorbidites are the two most at risk group for COVID in the first place. Otherwise it's a hardly a deadly virus.
It's only been six months since Marcos took office but that is long enough to analyze his administration's response to the pandemic. So, how are they doing?
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1707088/from-duterte-to-marcos-covid-stays-but-response-changes |
The new administration led by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. was given six months to prepare and kickstart its COVID-19 response plan before 2022 ended.
As the Marcos administration took over, it inherited a slew of health-related problems from the previous administration, including the task of managing those beyond the administration’s control, mainly COVID.
Before Marcos, the government under then-President Rodrigo Duterte had been criticized for his pronouncements and threats against those who would refuse to comply with his pandemic policies—curfews, lockdowns, and vaccination against SARS Cov2, the virus that causes COVID.
Then President Duterte’s COVID response was made controversial by some of his statements against the unvaccinated.
The Department of Health (DOH), particularly then-Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, also had its share of controversies during the pandemic.
In a bid to address pandemic-related issues left behind by the Duterte administration, Marcos vowed to fix the previous administration’s flaws and shortcomings in the government’s response to COVID-19.
“There were shortcomings in the COVID-19 response. We will fix them, out in the open, no more secrets in public health,” Marcos said at his inaugural speech last June 30.
However, as the year ends, while the Marcos administration has imposed a few pandemic-related policies, it has also fallen short of addressing some key challenges and issues needed to manage COVID.
Aside from keeping his promise not to impose lockdowns in the country this year, Marcos has issued an executive order allowing the voluntary wearing of face masks indoors and outdoors—despite threats and cases of emerging COVID-19 variants and sub-variants.
According to health reform advocate and former special adviser to the National Task Force on COVID-19 Dr. Tony Leachon, Marcos’ decision to ease the use of face masks in the country is an “economic decision.”
When asked what score he would give the Marcos administration for its COVID-19 pandemic response this year, Leachon said he would give it a seven out of ten or 70 percent—higher than the 60 percent score he gave the Duterte administration.
“The [pandemic response during] Duterte administration, with due respect with them, had alleged anomaly,” Leachon explained, citing controversial deals between the DOH and Pharmally Pharmaceuticals Corp. for overpriced PPE and other COVID items investigated by the Senate last year and the wastage of P31.3 million worth of vaccines.
“[I gave] 70 percent for the Marcos administration because it has not been a full year yet. However, it already had problems such as the lack of a secretary of health, even though his main problem is health,” Leachon explained.
The lack of a health secretary remains a huge problem and it will remain a huge problem every day there is no dedicated DOH Secretary.
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