Next COVID-19 vax days to focus on 5 regions

FILE PHOTO Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire. Screengrab from livestream

MANILA, Philippines — The second round of the government’s national vaccination campaign this month will focus on five regions that have low vaccination coverage.

According to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, the government hopes to increase the inoculation rates in Calabarzon, Central Luzon, Central Visayas, Western Visayas and Bangsamoro regions during the next National Vaccination Days set on Dec. 15 to Dec. 17.

“Our volunteers, partners in the private sector, and nongovernmental organizations will go to these areas so that we could help them increase the level of vaccination among those unvaccinated in the regions,” she said at the Laging Handa briefing.

She said the first round of the campaign held on Nov. 29 to Dec. 1 had been successful, and the government hoped to replicate this achievement.

The government was able to inoculate 10.1 million Filipinos during this event, which was extended for several more days in some areas.

No death linked to vaccine

Vergeire also gave assurance to the public that the country has not logged any death directly linked to the COVID-19 vaccine since it began its mass immunization drive.

Less than 1 percent of those inoculated experienced adverse reactions from the vaccine and severe reactions or death were due to other illnesses, she said.

The importance of vaccination, she said, had become more important because the newly discovered Omicron strain of the coronavirus has a “high chance” of entering the Philippines.

“We have been saying from the start that we cannot say that it will not be able to enter. What we’re talking about is when it can enter the country,” Vergeire said. “So, the chances are there. There is a high chance that it will enter the country and we are preparing for it.”

Thus far, most of the Filipinos who returned from South Africa have tested negative for the Omicron variant, but Thailand and Hong Kong have already reported Omicron cases.

“We want to remind our fellow Filipinos, whatever variant would enter, our compliance with safety protocols—wearing a mask, avoiding crowded places, hand sanitation, and vaccination — are still effective against variants,” Vergeire said.

While the government struggled to protect the population from infection, however, 1-Pacman Rep. Enrico Pineda again reiterated his call for the suspension of resolutions requiring that on-site employees be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Lawsuit

Pineda, chair of the House labor committee, said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) had called a meeting to discuss the House’s appeal that Resolutions No. 148-B and 149 be suspended.

The meeting also took up the matter of a lawsuit that was filed before a Parañaque City court seeking an injunction on the two resolutions.

Earlier this month, the House labor and employment committee moved to ask the IATF to defer implementation of the resolutions, citing concerns on access to COVID-19 vaccines and the cost of COVID-19 testing to be placed on unvaccinated workers.

—WITH A REPORT FROM JULIE M. AURELIO