DOH Officer-in-Charge and Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire. INQUIRER FILE
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday vowed to carry out President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s directives on COVID-19 recovery and improving access to healthcare during his first State of the Nation Address (Sona).
According to DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire, the department has shifted its focus on protecting the public’s livelihood and not just their health.
“It is important that the DOH is agile based on our circumstances. Our focus has fittingly shifted towards saving lives while also protecting livelihoods. We are promoting vaccination on top of our usual health protocols, instead of imposing restrictions,” DOH officer-in-charge and undersecretary Maria Rosario Singh-Vergeire.
“While the new Omicron subvariants are indeed still spreading, cases have been reported to be mild and can be allowed to heal at home,” she added.
In response, the department agreed with Marcos not to do any more lockdown measures despite the rising cases of COVID-19, so DOH said it would commit to “close coordination and deployment of necessary resources to keep our healthcare systems ready to respond to COVID and non-COVID cases.”
It noted that as of July 26, only 8.69 percent of total admissions fall in the severe and critical category.
The DOH then promised to ramp up its booster rollout to further strengthen the “wall of immunity” against COVID-19, as well as to improve health literacy to instill vaccine confidence within communities.
“We are grateful that President Marcos sees the true value of vaccination, especially as we must maintain a strong wall of immunity against COVID-19. We must protect ourselves from enjoying this new normal of face-to-face classes and open businesses,” said Beverly Lorraine Ho, DOH OIC-Undersecretary of Public Health Services Team (PHST).
In light of the new administration’s call for more affordable medical care and bringing healthcare closer to families, the DOH assured the public it continues to implement the Universal Health Care Act.