The Department of Health (DOH) said cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) among the country’s healthcare workers are declining -- as evidence of the effectiveness of vaccines.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that this was based on the “anecdotal” reports received by the DOH from hospitals.

“We are getting these kinds of reports also from our other hospitals kung saan bumababa na po ang mga kaso na nagkakasakit na healthcare workers ngayon dahil most of them are fully vaccinated already (We are getting these kinds of reports also from our other hospitals, wherein the number of healthcare workers getting sick is going down now because most of them are fully vaccinated already),” said Vergeire on Friday, July 23.

To note, healthcare workers were the first group of individuals to become eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines when the government started its immunization drive last March 1.

With this, Vergeire encouraged the public to get vaccinated to protect themselves against COVID-19.

“Dito palang sa mga ganitong anecdotal reports and evidences, we can say vaccines really work. So, magpabakuna na po tayo lahat para tayo lahat ay protektado (Based on these anecdotal reports and evidence, we can say that vaccines really work. So, let's all get vaccinated so that we can be protected),” she said.

In a Facebook post, Philippine General Hospital (PGH) Spokesperson Dr. Jonas Del Rosario said that COVID-19 infections among the hospital’s medical frontliners are decreasing.

“As more healthcare workers got fully vaccinated, the total (number) of COVID-19 infections among frontliners decreased,” he said.

Del Rosario said some healthcare workers who contracted the illness after having their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine suffered mild symptoms only.

“So far, the proportion of COVID-19 infection in the fully vaccinated group is 23/6,052. This shows the vaccine is effective although (it) may not be 100 percent from preventing infections,” he said.

“More importantly, it protected our HCWs (healthcare workers) from having severe COVID-19 and/or dying from the disease,” he added.

As of July 18, a total of 3,196,226 vaccine doses were administered to healthcare workers. Of this figure, 1,312,167 healthcare workers have been fully vaccinated, while 1,884,059 received their first dose.