The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday, April 18, said the projection of at least 300,000 active cases of Covid-19 by mid-May is possible should the public continue to neglect minimum health and safety protocols.
This statement has sent ripples of concern especially in view of the fact that the May 9 elections are less than three weeks away. While civic-minded Filipinos have been participating in massive political rallies since early March, there have been no indications that these have been “super-spreader” events --- similar to those witnessed during the presidential election campaign in the United States in 2020.
Also on April 18, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III reported during President Duterte’s weekly television address that the country is seeing a gradual increase of cases in 14 areas under Alert Level 1. The DOH recorded 1,674 new Covid-19 cases in the past week. The country’s seven-day moving average was down to 239 cases which is 12 percent lower than cases from April 4 to April 10.
To understand the context of the WHO’s latest advisory, it may be well to refer to a more comprehensive situation report issued last April 6 by Dr. Rajendra Yadav, acting WHO Representative in the Philippines. She cited that in April and May, Filipinos will observe the Holy Week and Ramadan while engaging in election-related activities. Inferentially, these would give rise to greater mobility and a higher frequency of mass gatherings.
Hence, the WHO espouses continued mask-wearing and high vaccination coverage. President Duterte has already declared that he would keep the mask mandate until the end of his term. The national task forces on Covid-19 are working hard to increase the vaccination rates in the Bangsamoro Administrative Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Cordillera Administrative Region.
For its part, the WHO has been focusing on the most vulnerable sectors, namely, unvaccinated senior citizens and those residing in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas that have not been reached by vaccines since these were rolled out in March 2021.
Most recently, the Department of Health announced that the Food and Drug Administration has already authorized the administration of second booster shots to senior citizens and those who are immune-compromised or with comorbidities, while noting that 2.6 million senior citizens remain unvaccinated. Also being lined up for second booster shots are health workers who continue to be in the frontlines of the pandemic response efforts.
According to the latest DOH COVID-19 tracker, a total of 67,116,122 Filipinos have been fully vaccinated; of this number, only 14,015,263 or 20.9 percent have received booster shots. Four out of five of those who have received two vaccine shots have yet to receive a single booster shot, and this is why both the WHO and the DOH are concerned, as waning immunity could render even fully vaccinated individuals more vulnerable to infection from new variants. Also concerning are the high new-case rates in neighboring ASEAN countries like Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
Finally, the WHO and the DOH are urging local chief executives to invest in bringing vaccination services closer to the communities as “vaccinating vulnerable populations is the most impactful intervention the country can do now amid the easing of restrictions.”