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.sunstar.com.ph/article/1960245/manila/local-news/moderna-to-set-up-vaccine-making-facility-in-philippines |
MODERNA, a pharmaceutical and biotechnology company that pioneered the production of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccines that are being used in the country, will set up a “Shared Service Facility for Pharmacovigilance” in the Philippines.In a meeting with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. at the Blair House in Washington DC, Moderna Chief Commercial Officer Arpa Garay and Senior Vice President and General Manager Patrick Bergstedt said the facility, which will be their third shared service facility across the world and first in Asia, will serve the entire Asia Pacific Region.The project will also be the first investment by Moderna in the Philippines and its first in Asia.Bergstedt said they have chosen the Philippines as the “perfect location” among many other countries that offered shared services, as they underscore the successful public-private partnership between the Philippine government and Moderna that they wanted to explore further.“We are really excited to have selected the Philippines for the third one primarily because you know the capabilities exist. We have the talent that exists, and we know that the partnership will be one that can be beneficial for both Moderna and the Philippines,” Garay said.The facility is expected to employ around 50 staff composed of health professionals with their shortlisted office location either in Makati or at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.Marcos expressed gratitude to Moderna, saying it will give the country advantage in healthcare.“The opportunity to build shared services in areas of interest, connecting with the scientific, academic opportunity with Moderna, the ministry of health is something that we’re very, very interested in. The most important part is that we sat down and drew the program, and say this is how we approach the problem ... Those are the kind of skills that we need. With your experience in other countries, there are many lessons that we could learn that can be applied in the Philippines,” he said.
It will be the first Moderna facility in Asia. Will it be built before the next "pandemic?"
COVID-19 cases are up and people are starting to lose their minds again. The DOH has ordered hospitals to reopen their COVID-19 wards.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1764541/doh-orders-hospitals-to-reopen-covid-19-wards |
The Department of Health (DOH) has directed hospitals to reopen wards and add beds for COVID-19 patients to prepare the country’s healthcare sector in the event of a pandemic resurgence.
According to DOH officer in charge Maria Rosario Vergeire, hospitals were told to follow the “accordion principle” by expanding bed capacity for COVID-19 cases in response to the spike in infections over the past weeks, to prevent a strain on resources and facilities.
She, however, noted that such “reserve” beds dedicated to COVID-19 patients were just on standby, and “not all have been used.”
“Since we saw an increasing trend, we’ve mobilized our hospitals and announced an accordion principle, [wherein] they need to open wards previously reserved for COVID-19 and were later closed to make way for other [cases],” Vergeire told a press briefing.
The health official added that while COVID-19 hospitalizations remained manageable, some hospitals were experiencing “moderate to high” admission rates due to a lack of intensive care unit (ICU) and non-ICU beds.
The increase in admissions in these hospitals is connected to the “number of beds, and not the increase in [cases],” Vergeire clarified.
Bed occupancy rates nationwide remain low, with COVID-19 cases making up 15 percent of the allotted ICU beds and 18.1 percent in non-ICU beds, the DOH said.
The call to increase bed capacity came even as the DOH and pandemic advisers maintained they were not endorsing a return of compulsory masking to curb transmission of COVID-19.
On Tuesday, Vergeire said bringing back mask mandates was “unnecessary” and a “knee-jerk” reaction that could adversely impact the economy.
Funny that the DOH says no to face masks but is preparing hospitals for incoming patients. Are they really expecting a surge of hospitalizations? With a shortage of doctors and nurses hospitals are no place for any sick person.
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| https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/04/23/doh-admits-shortage-of-nurses-doctors |
Department of Health (DOH) officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire admitted Thursday that there is a shortage of nurses and physicians in the country.
"We have a total demand of 159,548 for physicians and the gap would be 114,000-plus. For nurses, we have a demand of 305,708 and we have a variance or a gap of 127,000." Vergeire told the House of Represenatives.
"So ang kailangan nating idagdag na nurses is 127,000. Pagdating sa doctors, ang kailangan nating dagdag is 114,000. Next question, annually ilan ng ating bagong doktor at bagong nurse?" Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo asked.
Vergeire said meeting the shortfall for nurses would take 12 years, and 23 years for doctors.
"Annually, we have a total of around, average 4,387 per year for physicians. For nurses, we produced around 10,645 (on) average per year," she said.
- If they stopped sending nurses and doctors overseas there would be no shortage.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2023/5/4/filipinos-must-learn-to-keep-themselves-safe-vs-covid-19-doh |
The Department of Health (DOH) said the public must learn to assess their own Covid-19 risk and make choices on how to better protect themselves against this viral disease.
The DOH said that the public needs to increase their risk tolerance against Covid-19.
“We need to increase our tolerance whenever there is a rise in cases. Because every time the cases increase, people panic and get afraid,” said DOH Officer-in-Charge and Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire during a recent press briefing.
“Like what we have said, we need to be vigilant, aware, we must know how to protect ourselves, and let's believe in the effectiveness and protection that the vaccine gives us,” she added.
Despite COVID-19 cases being up one Representative wants the e-Travel requirement scrapped.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2023/5/4/despite-covid-case-uptick-solon-wants-e-travel-requirement-ditched |
Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte is calling on government to get rid of its tedious eTravel requirement for incoming international travellers despite the rise in local Covid-19 infections late last month.
Villafuerte's main reason for asking this is to entice more tourists and prospective investors to come to the Philippines.
But what about the rise in Covid-19 cases? The former deputy speaker noted that it hasn't been enough to make health authorities sound the alarm.
“Despite an uptick lately in cases of the new Covid-19 variant, health officials do not seem worried enough about a potentially alarming surge as to recommend the return of the masking mandate,” said Villafuerte, majority leader of the powerful Commission on Appointments (CA).
“Hence, I believe a logical step further for Malacañang’s policy of increasingly relaxing anti-Covid health protocols and reopening our economy to global business and travel is the ditching of the eTravel document as a border entry prerequisite for international travellers," he said.
The Department of Health (DOH) reported that daily average coronavirus infections spiked by 42 percent to 637. It also said the number of cases totaled 4,456 over the April 24 to 30 period.
“If countries like the US (United States) and Canada, which had similarly experienced Covid outbreak surges like the Philippines in the past, and which both have a far greater volume of inbound travellers than us, can lift their last remaining pandemic travel restrictions, why can’t we?” asked Villafuerte.
The Bicolano described the e-travel document as the last remaining vestige of the stringent health protocols that were enforced across the globe at the height of the pandemic.
"A lot more people can be enticed to go to the Philippines, whether for pleasure or business, if we were to get rid of the eTravel document that is so tedious and time-consuming for inbound passengers to accomplish prior to their actual arrival here," he said.
The eTravel earlier replaced the One Health Pass and e-Arrival Card as a travel requirement for incoming international passengers as part of the government’s health protocols to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
“However, eTravel has not delivered smooth passage as promised, and incoming passengers now have to go through the same arduous task of filling up this supposedly better travel document as what had been experienced and griped about by air travellers with the ditched One Health Pass and e-Arrival Card,” Villafuerte said.
Under the eTravel setup, inbound travellers are to register on its official website https://etravel.gov.ph within 72 hours prior to their actual flights to the Philippines.
They are mandated to present proof of their valid eTravel registration—either through printed copies or screenshots on their smartphones—prior to flight boarding at airports.
Doubly so even now that the WHO has declared the pandemic to be over.
With The Who declaring and end to the pandemic the DOH says they will be reassessing their COVID-19 policies.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1765561/doh-iatf-to-reassess-covid-19-policies-after-who-declaration |
The Department of Health (DOH) and the Inter-Agency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) will meet to discuss and reassess COVID-19 guidelines following the World Health Organization’s (WHO) declaration that the viral disease is no longer a global health emergency.
The health agency also said that it welcomed the decision from WHO, as it reflected the government’s efforts in its COVID-19 response.
“The DOH will convene the members of the [IATF-EID] to discuss and reassess policies and other guidelines affected by the declaration,” it said in a statement late Friday night.
According to the DOH, the following steps will be brought up for approval by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
“The DOH guarantees the Filipino people that all factors in determining our next action in line with the WHO’s proclamation will be considered and discussed for the approval of the President,” said the DOH.
The DOH also said that the proclamation was an “acknowledgment of our effective and collaborative COVID-19 response and concerted efforts to fully recover and re-open our economy.”
Whatever they decide one expert says certain protocols must remain in place.
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| https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/06/23/some-covid-protocols-must-stay-after-global-health-emergency-lifting-expert |
Some COVID-19 protocols must continue despite the lifting by the World Health Organization of its highest alert regarding the respiratory disease that has claimed nearly 7 million lives globally, an infectious disease expert said Saturday.According to Dr. Rontgene Solante, chairman of the Adult Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine at the San Lazaro Hospital, the lifting of the global health emergency declaration for COVID-19 does not mean the pandemic has ended.“May mga protocols tayong kailangan pa rin nating panatilihin. I think kasama diyan yung how we will incorporate yung vaccination sa programa natin, na we need to continue to protect the population, especially yung population at high risk ang mortality, yung vulnerable population,” he told ABS-CBN’s TeleRadyo.“Importante pa rin 'yan dahil alam natin that the virus continues to mutate, and there are (members of the) population at high risk of getting the infection, that can also get the more severe infection,” he added.Solante said surveillance of cases and monitoring of the capacity of medical facilities to handle coronavirus infections should also be sustained.
Senator Ejercito says he sees no reason wy COVID-19 restriction should be reimposed.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1201000 |
The restoration of community quarantines and lockdowns are no longer necessary, according to a senator amid the spike in the number coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in the country.
Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito said most of these cases are mild and people are already aware of the basic health protocols.
"I don't think there is a need anymore for a declaration of public health emergency or the likes of [Enhance Community Quarantine] ECQ," Ejercito told reporters in a press briefing on Monday.
However, he clarified that the government still needs the budget allocation for Covid-19 response.
"But we cannot totally remove the budget for Covid-19 response. I think those who have not yet taken their vaccine or booster shots, they still need it. I think that will help us a lot as a protection against Covid-19 virus," Ejercito said.
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