More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
Bongbong Marcos has urged everyone to get vaccinated to prevent a pandemic resurgence. This despite the vaccine not being able to prevent infection.
 |
| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1791150/marcos-urges-unvaccinated-filipinos-to-get-covid-19-shots |
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. pleaded with the unprotected population to get vaccinated for fear of a pandemic resurgence.
On Wednesday, the President spoke at the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City’s bivalent vaccine launch, where 2,500 healthcare personnel were scheduled to get additional Omicron variant inoculation.
“Let this occasion serve as a call to every Filipino to continue doing your part. Get updated on your COVID-19 vaccination to prevent a resurgence, as a means of honoring those who sacrificed their lives during the pandemic. I thus appeal to everyone, especially those who have yet to receive their primary series of vaccinations, to get vaccinated against COVID-19. This is not for your own good alone but also for the protection of your families and the general public,” said Marcos during his address.Marcos also said that vaccination was necessary to be able to work.
(Let us all get vaccinated so we do not get sick so that we can return to work quickly and do everything we want to do because we are safe from illness.)
Vaccination is necessary to be able to work? What is he talking about? There is no vaccine mandate and many people have gone back to work already vaccinated or not!
Marcos also says that getting vaccinated is a way to honor health workers.
 |
| https://mb.com.ph/2023/6/21/marcos-we-owe-a-debt-to-covid-vax-makers-health-workers |
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Wednesday, June 21, hailed those behind the manufacturing and administering of the Covid-19 vaccines as he credited them for allowing society to return to normalcy.
He urged Filipinos to honor the scientists, manufacturers and healthcare workers who dedicated their lives to the discovery of the vaccine and taking care of those who caught the virus.
As a way to recognize their efforts, the Chief Executive asked Filipinos to get themselves vaccinated.
“We certainly owe a debt as well to our vaccine manufacturers, our scientists, our healthcare workers, and everyone who gave so much, so that the world could return to a state of normalcy,” he said during the launch of the bivalent Covid-19 vaccination at the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City.
“Let this occasion serve as a call to every Filipino to continue doing your part [and] get updated on your Covid-19 vaccination to prevent a resurgence, (and) as a means of honoring those who sacrificed their lives during the pandemic,” he added.
Marcos assuaged the public’s concerns on receiving the jabs, and stressed that the government has science-based strategies and a whole-of-society approach in administering the vaccines.
He then urged newly appointed Health Secretary Ted Herbosa to strengthen the Department of Health’s (DOH) efforts to protect the Filipino people against all health risks.
“I urge all of us to remain relentless in our fight against Covid-19 and all other infectious diseases that threaten the country,” the President said.
“As long as we exhibit discipline, observe cleanliness and practice cooperation, we will overcome the residual challenges that are still posed by Covid-19 and emerge stronger than ever as members of a healthy, resilient and productive Philippine society,” he added.
He also called on the public not to let their “guard down” because although the state of emergency seems to have ended, “it is not over completely.”
The state emergency SEEMS to have ended but is not over completely? Then why did he end the state of emergency!? Well, he did not. He only lifted the state of calamity.
But the new DOH Secretary wants the state of emergency lifted.
 |
| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/873987/herbosa-to-seek-lifting-of-philippine-covid-19-public-health-emergency/story/ |
In an ambush interview, Herbosa stressed that COVID-19 no longer posed an emergency and could be treated as any other disease that the Department of Health (DOH) monitors, like influenza, cough, and cold.
“Actually, wala nang emergency eh, 'di ba? (there is no longer an emergency). I think I would actually ask the lifting of the public health emergency in the country,” he said.
Then-President Rodrigo Duterte declared a state of public health emergency during the onset of the pandemic in March 2020.
Under Proclamation 922, the state of public health emergency would remain in force and effect until lifted or withdrawn by the President.
In May, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that COVID-19 no longer represented a global health emergency.
Herbosa, however, said that the alert level system would remain.
“The alert level system will stay because that’s a system like the typhoon signal that stays. But actually hindi na siya (that’s no longer a) public health emergency. Wala nang (there’s no) public health emergency,” he added.
In April, former DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the Philippines may only declare an end to its COVID-19 public health emergency if infections and hospital utilization remained manageable.
The alert system will remain despite the lack of an emergency. We have been told many times that the situation is manageable so why is the public health emergency still in place?
As a show of thanks for donating bivalent vaccines Marcos wants to forge stronger ties with Lithuania.
 |
| https://mb.com.ph/2023/6/21/pbbm-eyes-deeper-ph-lithuania-ties-following-bivalent-covid-19-vaccines-donation |
President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has expressed his intention to further strengthen the Philippines' ties with the Republic of Lithuania following the latter's donation of bivalent Covid-19 vaccines.
Marcos said this as he led the launch of the said Covid-19 vaccines at the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City on Wednesday, June 21.
In his speech, the President lauded the European country for its generosity.
"The Philippines conveys its gratitude to the Republic of Lithuania for their generosity and their donation of the country's first batch of bivalent vaccines," he said.
"I am hopeful that we will further deepen our cooperation in such areas as well as sustain this bond of friendship that we have strengthened now," he added.
"Rest assured that this government, under this administration, treasures that special relationship, and your act of generosity today will certainly not go unnoticed or ever be forgotten," he continued.
The Philippines and Lithuania will celebrate 32 years of diplomatic relations in December this year.
What exactly can the Philippines do for Lithuania?
When the lockdowns were first imposed everything came to a halt including air travel. One proposed law seeks to remedy the type of hassle travelers experienced when that happened.
 |
| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1204070 |
House of Representatives Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro on Thursday urged her colleagues to pass a measure seeking to ensure that the rights and interests of airline passengers are well-protected during times of natural disasters or pandemics.
The lady solon led the minority bloc in filing House Bill 8556 or “the Pandemic Airfare Relief Act” to provide a uniform scheme for refund and rebooking of airline tickets in flights affected by prolonged natural calamities or pandemics.
Castro said aside from providing a set of guidelines in cases of refund and ticket rebooking, the bill also aims to ensure that airlines are held accountable for any disruptions caused by these events.
"During times of natural disasters or pandemics, airline passengers are among the most vulnerable. They are often left stranded and unsure of what their rights are when it comes to refunds and rebooking of their flights,” she said.
The bill, she added, would provide a clear and uniform set of guidelines “for both passengers and airlines to follow.”
She pointed out that this proposed measure is particularly important given the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, which has disrupted air travel and left many passengers stranded or unable to travel as planned.
"We urge our fellow lawmakers to support this bill and ensure that the rights and interests of airline passengers are protected during times of natural disasters or pandemics," Castro said.
What is this lady talking about? The WHO has declared the pandemic to be over essentially and air travel is back to normal. All travel has been back to normal for over a year. But this law could come in handy in the future.
Two Filipino nurses in Britain are getting noticed. One of them received a British Empire Medal.
 |
| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/pinoyabroad/content/873636/filipino-nurse-gets-british-empire-medal-for-service-during-pandemic/story/ |
A Filipina nurse was awarded the British Empire Medal for her outstanding service during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It's really overwhelming nakakataba ng puso na yung ginagawa pala natin napapansin din ng iba," said Louie Horne during an interview with Oscar Oida on "24 Oras."
Horne was among the individuals recognized as the Medalist of the Order of the British Empire, an award given as part of the birthday celebration of King Charles III.
She was also invited to the British Asian Evening at the Buckingham Palace.
"Marami tayong namatay during the pandemic na mga Filipino and for some reason sa akin sila lumalapit and then I end up repatriating the body, supporting the family, pinaglalaban ko talaga kung magkano makukha nila," Horne said.
Horne, who flew to the UK in 2000 from her hometown in Albay to work as a nurse, is now the Deputy Associate Director of Nursing and Clinical Research Fellow at the National Health Service England.
She was also awarded the Florence Nightingale Foundation Scholarship and Chief Nursing Officer Silver Award for her service during the pandemic.
Like any other overseas Filipino worker, she also experienced challenges, such as discrimination.
"So many different kinds of discrimination, yes, I went through it pero ang ano doon kasi, you can't let it bring you down, you know. Iiyak ka 'pag sinabing bumalik ka na sa country mo may mga ganon. Pero you have to choose your battle wherever you go in this world there will be battles, and you have to survive, and people will see that you are not just anyone that they can take down," she said.
And the other, May Parsons who was the first person to jab someone with the COVID-19 vaccine, is forming a charity to help nurses in the Philippines.
 |
| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/pinoyabroad/dispatch/874181/fil-brit-nurse-who-gave-world-s-first-covid-19-jab-forms-charity/story |
May Parsons, the Filipino-British nurse who administered the first shot of COVID-19 vaccine outside of clinical trials, has come back to the Philippines to establish a charity to help Filipino nursing graduates and licensed nurses get into the profession.
Interviewed on Super Radyo dzBB, Parsons said that she has partnered with the Occupational English-Test to fund the May Parsons Foundation to give back to the Filipino nursing community, which she stressed experienced a lot of “horror stories,” especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
(What I intend to do is help our student nurses to continue their studies, and also my fellow nurses who did not pass the board exam to review so that they can get a license and work as nurses. I also want to encourage the nurses who are in call centers or in any industry to return to nursing.)
Health Secretary Ted Herbosa has raised concerns regarding the lack of nurses in government hospitals, noting that 4,500 plantilla items for nurses are currently vacant in over 70 hospitals of the Department of Health (DOH) nationwide.
For her part, Parsons said she is willing to talk with Herbosa to know the rationale behind his proposal and to give suggestions on how to improve the condition of nurses working in the Philippines.
She lamented that the brain drain of Filipino nurses usually stemmed from the lack of better salary and benefits, particularly in private hospitals.
(There are many nurses here who are not in the nursing industry. They are in the call center. They work there because the salary is higher. They also said it is difficult to get a job in a government hospital, that’s why they get in private hospitals which give salaries that are not enough.)
Funny that she is talking about stoping the brain drain when she ran off to the UK for a higher salary!
No comments:
Post a Comment