OCTA expert to gov’t: Prepare to relax public health protocols

(FILE) Pasay City residents troop to the city government’s Giga Vaccination center at SM Mall of Asia to receive the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine. —RICHARD A. REYES

MANILA, Philippines — A molecular biologist from the OCTA Research group is urging the government to prepare for the gradual relaxation of public health protocols as more people are getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

Fr. Nicanor Austriaco O.P., who is also a professor of biology at the Providence College in the United States, noted that in the United States, for instance, requirements for wearing masks have been relaxed even if herd immunity has yet to be attained.

“I think the government should be ready to gradually relax the minimum health standards as more and more Filipinos are vaccinated, to do two things: To give us hope and to give an incentive to those who are hesitant,” he told ABS-CBN News Channel.

“So I encourage the government over the next few months to explore possible ways to begin to relax the minimum health standards, for those who are fully vaccinated, so that they will show on Facebook, on social media that we are going back to normal and that everyone has a role to play in this,” he added.

The country has so far administered over four million COVID-19 vaccine shots. As of May 24, a total of 986,929 individuals have received their second dose of the vaccine.

With the vaccination numbers still far from the government’s target, the OCTA Research group earlier recommended an extension of the general community quarantine in the NCR Plus, covering Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, and Bulacan, to continuously decrease the number of cases.

“To give you a sense of comparison, the numbers now are equivalent to the numbers at the peak of the first surge in August. So even though the numbers are substantially lower than the peak we had in April, if you compare it to the peak of the first surge last year, they are comparable now,” he said.

“We would like to keep these numbers going down in order for contact tracing, isolation, and quarantine procedures to be as optimal as possible,” he added.

/MUF