Keep economy open without compromising healthcare system, says vaccine expert

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s healthcare system should not be compromised amid moves to open up the economy, the chairperson of the Philippines’ vaccine expert panel said.

Dr. Nina Gloriani said that the issue of economy and health amid the pandemic should be a “balancing act.”

“Dapat ‘yung balancing act. We have to open up our economy as well. I mean ako, I would rather normalize so ang ayaw lang natin ay ma-kompromiso ang ating healthcare system na dadami ang ma-i-ICU, maho-hospitalize, or even die,” Gloriani said in an interview on One News PH Wednesday night.

(There should be a balancing act. We have to open up our economy as well. On the other hand, I would rather normalize the situation. What we don’t want to see is that our healthcare system is compromised and a lot of people will be brought to the ICU, hospitalized, or even die.)

Dr. Nina Gloriani, Vaccine Development Expert Panel Head (Screengrab from Laging Handa briefing)

“Pero so far naman, what we see at hindi pa naman talagang nakikita yon sa ating mga hospitals so meron pa tayong nakikitang protection, ‘yung nandito sa mga vaccines na di-neploy natin,” she added.

(But so far, we have not seen that in our hospitals, so we still see some protection from the vaccines we deployed.)

Gloriani said the shift to the face-to-face mode in some activities should be monitored.

“Parang day-to-day ano ‘yan halos, hindi naman siguro week-to-week. Babantayan niyo lahat ‘yan,” Gloriani said.

Asked if some areas in the country should move up to Alert Level 2 given projected rise in COVID-19 cases by the end of the month, Gloriani said she cannot respond for now, but stressed that a “sizable number of population” have already been vaccinated.

“Babalansehin natin, ayoko na rin tumigil ang economy. We cannot afford it,” she added.

(We should balance this. I don’t want the economy to stop too.) (Xander Dave Ceballos / OJT)

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