86% of COVID-19 patients at PGH unvaccinated, says spokesman

Facade of the UP – Philippine General Hospital. Image from the PGH website

MANILA, Philippines — Eighty-six percent of COVID-19 patients at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) are not vaccinated, its spokesperson said Wednesday as the hospital’s occupancy for COVID-19 beds nears 70 percent.

Dr. Jonas Del Rosario, PGH spokesperson, told INQUIRER.net that out of the 108 adult COVID-19 patients at the hospital, 86.2 percent are unvaccinated, 11 percent are partially vaccinated, and 2.8 percent are fully vaccinated.

“That was August 3. We now have 154 patients,” he said in a text message. PGH has 225 total COVID-19 beds, according to the official.

Del Rosario said the vaccinated patients only have moderate cases of COVID-19, while the cases for the unvaccinated individuals range from moderate to severe and critical.

Health authorities have been noting that while available vaccines cannot ensure full protection against COVID-19 infection, they can protect vaccine recipients against the severe form of the disease.

Last week, Dr. Regina Berba, head of the PGH Infection Control Unit, said that 21 local cases of the Delta variant were either admitted or tested at the hospital. She assured, however, that there was no outbreak of COVID-19 cases at the premier hospital despite the detection of the highly contagious variant.

The country has so far administered almost 22 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, according to National Task Force against COVID-19 deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon. He said that 12 million are partially vaccinated while 9.8 million are now fully vaccinated.

READ: Fully vaccinated Filipinos vs COVID-19 nearing 10 million — Dizon

He added that the government expects to reach the 10-million mark for individuals fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Thursday.

The government aims to vaccinate around 70 million Filipinos to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19.

EDV