More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
All around the world governments are deciding whether or not to give vaccine passes which allow vaccinated individuals to have special privileges such as being able to partake of indoor activities. In the Philippines the DOH says they are against such a measure.
The Department of Health said it was not in favor of a proposal to have “vaccine passes” that would allow vaccinated individuals access to indoor activities and services.
In a briefing Friday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire stressed there was scant evidence suggesting fully-vaccinated individuals will no longer get sick or transmit COVID-19 to other people.
“As we have said, the benefit that we can get from vaccines is reducing severe infections and hospitalization. As to preventing mild to moderate infections, we cannot give that assurance to the public,” Vergeire said in a mix of English and Filipino.
“Even if you are fully vaccinated, meaning you have completed two doses, you still need to follow minimum health protocols. The DOH cannot recommend this so-called vaccine pass yet,” she added.
The reason given is because the vaccine does not eve work! It does not prevent one from getting infected. So why take it?? What's the point of getting a vaccine against a virus with an over 90% survival rate that does not even prevent you from getting infected? The DOH even recommends vaccinated people still wear face masks because fully vaccinated people can still get infected.
The Philippines is hoping for herd immunity by Christmas. Perhaps it is then that vaccine passports can be issued.
Vaccine passes can be considered once herd immunity is achieved in the so-called National Capital Region Plus area (Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal) , Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion said Saturday.
Concepcion said reaching the herd immunity in NCR Plus is “quite possible” by the end of the year and one system that can be adapted is vaccine passes.
He said vaccine passes give those already inoculated with the COVID-19 jabs greater mobility to resume normal activities.
“By letting this portion of the population travel, dine in restaurants, or visit gyms, they can help businesses get back on their feet while we wait for everyone to get vaccinated,” Concepcion said in a statement.
“Diners, travelers, shoppers, even the cashiers and waiters – they can be confident that they are around other vaccinated people,” he added.
This of course depends on people being vaccinated and that depends on government's not being negligent in handling the vaccine.
The 348 Coronavac doses left in a freezer without electricity for more than two days in Makilala, North Cotabato, have been damaged and are no longer usable for vaccination.
Dr. Philbert Malaluan, speaking for North Cotabato’s inter-agency task force (IATF) addressing the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), said Friday the Department of Health (DOH) 12 (Soccsksargen) has confirmed that the vaccines could no longer be used.
Makilala municipal health officer Dr. Gina Sorilla said the vaccines were intended for senior citizens.
Lito Cañedo, Makilala IATF spokesperson, said the vaccines were kept at the municipal health office’s freezer and were supposed to be used for vulnerable sectors on May 10.
However, a power outage occurred at about 12:30 p.m. on May 7.
“Due to the power outage, the health workers and the police in charge of securing the vaccines decided to transfer the vials to the freezer of the Makilala police office,” Cañedo said, adding that the freezer at the police station was powered by a generator set during the duration of the brownout.
He said the power supply from the Cotabato Electric Cooperative (Cotelco) was restored at about 2 p.m. on May 7 but nobody managed to switch the power supply to the Cotelco source after the generator was shut down.
Cañedo said municipal office workers, including health personnel, left at 3 p.m. as part of health protocols and for workplace disinfection.
“So, nobody noticed on Friday that the freezer was not switched backed to regular power supply,” he said.
Negligence? On whose part exactly? This is the problem with regular power outages in the Philippines. The electric company should carry much of the blame. Negligence would be some LGUs storing vaccines with food!
The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday reminded local government units that COVID-19 jabs should be stored separately from food, as this is not a part of the country's protocol on vaccine handling.
The statement from the department came amid reports that some localities supposedly have contracts with food chain suppliers tapped for storing and transporting vaccines.
"Sinabi na po natin na (we already said that) the vaccines should have a separate storage, it should not be mixed with food kung mayroon man tayo (if we have)," Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a public briefing.
(Maybe some local governments mix the vaccines with food, because there are vaccines that can be stored at 2 to 8 degrees, in a refrigerator but this is wrong.)
In late January, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. told local government units and private companies to observe national government-set vaccine cold storage standards and not just resort to their own refrigeration measures.
The thing about being Filipinos is doing whatever you think it takes to make a job work. It's like using
a knife to open a can when there is a can opener in the drawer. This is no different.
One would think the best way to convince people to get the vaccine is dissenting information about its effectiveness. Of course sine the vaccine is not effective at all in preventing infection it's better to lure the people with food.
Sen. Richard Gordon on Monday urged private firms to partner with the government in providing incentives to encourage more Filipinos to be inoculated against COVID-19.
A certain donut shop has agreed to provide free donuts for those who will avail COVID-19 jabs from the Philippine Red Cross (PRC), Gordon, who chairs the non-profit agency, told ANC's Headstart.
"It's part of their contribution. We must feel that everybody is carrying the load," he said.
"For example, Starbucks, papayag sila na magbibigay ng kape o ensaymada kapag nagpa-vaccinate," he said.
"We really have to incentivize people na country first, community first, before yourself," he said.
Roque even thinks receiving cash assistance from the government should be dependent upon one's vaccination status.
(If there is future cash aid to be distributed, maybe beneficiaries can also be asked to be vaccinated before getting their aid so that many more people will get COVID-19 shots.)
(This will remain voluntary. We’re just making vaccination as a condition if they want to receive their aid.)
Vaccines will remain voluntary unless you want aid. Then it's not exactly voluntary now is it? This kind of law will affect the poorest the most. Thank goodness this is only the proposal of Duterte's toady and not an actual elected official. Hopefully no one thinks this is a good idea and it is rejected.
For his part, Duterte says unvaccinated people should
stay inside. He is also warning of "a more serious attack" because of the many variants.
Saying it’s “good to prepare for a more serious attack,” President Rodrigo Duterte said the government should continue improving its COVID-19 systems amid the rise of new variants.
During a taped briefing aired Tuesday, Duterte said that the country must “prepare for the worst” should there be a “more serious” COVID-19 variant to hit the country.
“I would be happy if you continue to build the infrastructure of our COVID-19 fight system because for as long as COVID-19 is here, it would take a lot of time before it would finally disappear—if at all—and with the advent of the new variants, it is good to prepare for a more serious attack,” Duterte said.
Duterte said the Philippine government is continuing and recalibrating its preparedness in accordance to the propagation of the new variants.
“Kung medyo palapit na palapit na at marami nang tinatamaan [If it really comes closer and a lot of people are already infected], then we will go full blast and making everything operational,” Duterte said.
It sounds like the government is preparing for more lockdowns and restrictions.
It's not that Filipinos as a whole are "vaccine hesitant." They are simply waiting for their favorite brand before getting the jab. That is why there was a huge crowd at the Pfizer vaccination events in Manila.
The huge crowd that turned up for shots of the US-made Pfizer vaccine in hopes of being better protected against COVID-19 could ironically become a “superspreader” event, health reform advocate Dr. Tony Leachon warned on Tuesday.
Despite the experts’ and government’s constant reminder for the public to take any vaccine offered to them, the Filipinos’ preference for certain vaccine brands manifested itself in the “octopus-like” queues in sites offering Pfizer shots, and the near-empty venues where Sinovac or AstraZeneca vaccines were being rolled out.
One factor driving the “huge crowd is the brand of the vaccine, due to the science-based approach and real world experience of success [in] Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States,” Leachon said.
Hearing that the Pfizer vaccine would be offered in Manila and Parañaque cities, thousands of people, most of them walk-ins without confirmed vaccination appointments, crowded a mall in Parañaque City and ignored social distancing protocols.
The lack of crowd control and confusing instructions on the ground also led to hours of waiting and unnecessary exposure among vaccinees, some of them elderly and wheelchair-bound.
The Department of Health (DOH) has reminded the public to register and get a confirmed appointment before showing up at the vaccination site, as there is a limit to the number of vaccines that can be administered in a day.
“We need to improve our communication to the public [so they’d know] that they need to wait for their schedule for vaccination (through text messages),” DOH National Capital Region Director Gloria Balboa said at the Laging Handa online briefing on Tuesday.
There are two factors here driving the crowds. One is that everyone wants Pfizer. The solution, according to Dr. Tony Leach, is to have "brandless vaccinations" where the brand is not announced beforehand. Of course such a move would deny the people's right to be informed about what exactly is being put in there bodies.
Th second factor is lack of communication from the DOH to the people. One would think after a year of this mess they would have that down by now. It seems not. To prevent future crowding the PNP says they will be deploying their "medical force."
