The chairperson of the country’s Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP) on Thursday, Nov. 25, rallied behind the Department of Health’s (DOH) bid to ask the guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO) to determine if the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the country has already been controlled or contained.

VEP head Dr. Nina Gloriani agreed with DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III that an international body such as WHO can assess the real status of the country’s COVID-19 situation.

She said the decrease in COVID-19 positivity rate in the country may have prodded the DOH to seek WHO’s assessment.

“They are looking at the downtrend, siguro para maalis tayo dun sa mga alert levels and move on with the economy, pero tama naman si Secretary Duque kailangan na mas mataas na body ang titingin nyan (They are looking at the downtrend, maybe to get us out of the alert levels and move on with the economy, but Secretary Duque is right, we need a higher body to look into it),” she said during the TechnoForum on COVID-19 Vaccines and Herd Immunity on Thursday as part of the Los Baños Science Community Foundation, Inc’s (LBSCFI) celebration of the SyenSaya 2021.

Gloriani said a third party assessment is needed to determine if the spread of coronavirus in the country has already been under control or contained.

“Ano ba talaga ang nangyayari sa atin? Talaga bang bumababa o kulang ang reporting at ang immunization ba totoo ba na mataas? (What is really happening to us? Are cases really declining or are there underreported cases and is immunization really that high?,” she asked.

She said further evaluation is needed to ensure that the Philippines has already contained COVID-19.

“I agree the sooner we get back to normal, the better, pero hindi rin natin gugustuhin na magmadali (but we also don’t want to be in a hurry),” she said.

“Pero sa tingin ko baka hindi pa ibigay, bakit, kasi ibang countries, hindi pa (But I think it (guidance) may not be given yet, why, because other countries have not yet received it),” Gloriani said.