Robredo urges gov’t: Step up vaccination drive amid threats of COVID-19 Delta variant

Delivery riders, motorcycle, and tricycle drivers receive Sinovac vaccine at the Vaccine Express, a drive-thru inoculation program by the Office of the Vice President and the City government of Manila at the CCP Complex in Malate, Manila on Wednesday, June 23, 2021. Niño Jesus Orbeta/Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines — The government should find ways to encourage more and more people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and possibly make its inoculation rollout thrice faster amid threats of the coronavirus Delta variant.

Vice President Leni Robredo issued this appeal as the Department of Health (DOH) reports the detection in the country of 16 new cases of the COVID-19 Delta variant, which experts say is more contagious than other variants of the deadly coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

“Sana ‘yong ating deployment ng mga vaccines mas lalong bumilis, triple pa ng bilis,” Robredo said in a video uploaded on her official Facebook account on Friday.

(I hope the deployment of our vaccines would be faster, even thrice faster than before.)

“‘Yong karanasan kasi namin lalo nahihikayat ‘yong tao magpabakuna kapag merong incentives na binibigay, so maraming mga paraan kung papaano mas mahihikayat ‘yong tao na magpabakuna. Sana tignan natin ‘yong iba’t-ibang paraan,” she added.

(Based on our experience people are likely to have themselves vaccinated if there are incentives that would be offered, but there are many ways to encourage people to get vaccinated.  I hope we look at all the possible means.)

DOH said the 16 additional cases of the Delta variant include 11 cases of local transmission. To date, the Philippines has 35 cases of the Delta variant, it added.

The COVID-19 Delta variant, initially discovered in India, has been characterized by increased transmissibility, leading to record-breaking surges in the South Asian country in the second quarter of 2021 as well as the recent resurgence of coronavirus cases in Indonesia.

READ: Delta variant puts brakes on return to post-COVID normality

“Paalala lang ulit para sa lahat, ‘yong pagsunod sa health protocols — pagsuot ng mask, physical distancing, pag-iwas sa matataong lugar, magpabakuna — ‘yong hindi pa napapabakunahan sana makapagpa-bakuna tayo,” she said.

(Just a reminder to all, obey health protocols such as wearing of face mask, physical distancing, avoiding crowded places, getting vaccinated. Those yet to be vaccinated, I hope they get their vaccine.)

“‘Yong nabakunahan na sana hindi naman tayo masyadong kampante, dahil alam natin na while nasasalba tayo from severe symptoms, pwede pa rin tayong mahawa,’ she added.

(For those vaccinated, I hope they do not get too complacent because while we know that vaccines save us from severe symptoms, we can still get infected.)

Robredo then shared that the project of the Office of the Vice President in partnership with the city government of Manila called Vaccine Express will resume on Tuesday, July 20. Vaccine Express facilitates drive-thru vaccination.

“Kami partner namin ‘yong City of Manila sa Vaccine Express. In fact, sa darating na Martes magkakaroon ulit kami with the City of Manila,” she said.

(We have partnered with the City of Manila in the Vaccine Express. In fact, this coming Tuesday we would resume the initiative with the City of Manila.)

“‘Yong sa akin lang, kailangan handa tayo, ayaw na natin magkaroon pa ng surge pa ulit dito sa atin, so sa atin ‘yong maximum na pag-observe ng mga health protocols gawin na natin ngayon man din,” she added.

(But for me, we need to be ready, we do not want another surge to happen in our country, so I think the maximum observance of health protocols should be done even at this stage.)

The government said it has so far fully vaccinated more than 4 million people against COVID-19 and has administered over 14 million doses of various coronavirus vaccines since the inoculation campaign started in late March.

It targets to attain herd immunity within this year or by January 2022 through vaccination of at least 70 percent of the population, or around 75 million Filipinos – which require 150 million vaccine doses.

A recent Social Weather Stations survey showed that the number of Filipinos willing to be vaccinated against COVID-19 has gone up, but has not yet breached the 50 percent mark.

READ: PH records most number of COVID-19 vaccines given in a day

As of Friday, July 16, the country’s active COVID-19 cases stood at 48,480 after the DOH reported the infection of 5,676 more people. To date, the Philippines has confirmed 1,496,328  coronavirus cases since 2020.

KGA