BETTER DAYS
Senator Sonny Angara
Recently, the Department of Health (DOH) announced that recorded Covid-19 cases have increased by roughly 30 percent between the end of May and mid-June. Such finding was affirmed a few days ago by OCTA Research, who also noted a spike in the positivity rate and the reproduction number in the capital region.
However, both OCTA Research and DOH have yet to determine if there is indeed a need to escalate the alert level of the region. According to OCTA, the positivity rate of 2.2 percent as of June 8, 2022 is still within the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommended rate of five percent. Meanwhile, DOH Undersecretary Vergeire stated that the increase in cases is “still not significant because it is not affecting the admissions in the hospitals.”
Still, the DOH cautioned that the alert levels may be raised depending on the Covid-19 numbers that would be recorded in the coming weeks, as a possible surge should not be discounted. This is especially critical now since, cognizant of the need for the country’s economy to recover, the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) amended the alert level systems to allow businesses and establishments to operate at full capacity, within certain restrictions.
Based on the National Covid-19 Case Bulletin, healthcare utilization is still considered low since only 20.3 percent of the non-ICU beds and 16.6 percent of the ICU beds for Covid-19 are utilized. Note that the threshold for occupancy rate which DOH categorizes as safe is less than 60 percent.
Meanwhile, in terms of the country’s vaccination program, as of June 12, 2022, the DOH reported that 69.759 million Filipinos are already fully vaccinated. This represents 77.51 percent of the target population, above the 70 percent target set by the government back in 2021. However, Filipinos who received a booster shot remain low at 14.5 million despite the availability of vaccines. Due to the low numbers of booster doses administered, the NCR mayors were even considering instituting a policy that would limit the mobility of people who have yet to receive their booster shots.
This low “booster vaccination” rate is peculiar since our vaccine hesitancy has been steadily declining — from 22 percent during the Q3 2021 to just five percent as of January 2022 according to OCTA Research.
Meanwhile, a Social Weather Station (SWS) survey conducted around the same period showed that only eight percent of Filipino respondents do not want to get vaccinated — way below the 33 percent registered in May 2021. Hence, the low booster administration is quite worrisome since more “well-recognized” vaccines such as Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are now widely-available and easily accessible.
Clearly, the government must also scale up its campaigns to promote and highlight the importance of getting a booster dose as imposing another lockdown should be seen as a last and final resort. According to Albay Representative Joey Salceda, just putting Metro Manila under Alert Level 2 would already “push around 640,000 households into hunger.” Raising alert levels and imposing new restrictions would be detrimental to many Filipinos especially with the rising price of fuel and other commodities.
One way of encouraging Filipinos to avail of booster doses is to stress their safety and efficacy. For instance, not many are aware that the vaccines manufactured by Pfizer- BioNTech and Moderna have already received full approval — as opposed to being under an emergency use authorization (EUA) — from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). There is already enough data to support their efficacy and safety.
It could also be an opportune moment for the government to fast-track the implementation of Republic Act No. 11223 or the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act and PhilHealth’s rollout of the Konsultasyong Sulit at Tama (Konsulta) Package which would provide Filipinos access to comprehensive primary healthcare services such as consultation, diagnostic tests, and case management. Proper implementation of the programs under the UHC Act could help improve the health seeking behavior of Filipinos which, in turn, would allow them to access early interventions and prevent them from acquiring more serious illnesses in the long run. This could be very important in the event of another Covid-19 surge.
In the 18th Congress, we filed a bill which seeks to complement the UHC Act and provide free annual medical check-ups to Filipinos as a counterpart measure to the one filed by Anakalusugan Representative Michael Defensor. We intend to refile this measure once the 19th Congress begins.
While our health authorities have yet to sound the alarm on the recorded increase in cases, the country’s experiences with past surges should serve as a lesson to be more proactive in curbing the spread of the virus. That is where our pandemic playbook should come in especially since many experts have already stated that the country will have to live with the virus for many years. This includes capacitating our healthcare system to be ready in case of increased admissions and encouraging Filipinos to not be complacent and to avail of the vaccines readily accessible.
Email: [email protected]| Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: @sonnyangara
(Senator Sonny Angara has been in public service for 18 years — nine years as Representative of the lone District of Aurora, and nine as Senator. He has authored and sponsored more than 250 laws. He is currently serving his second term in the Senate.)