Filipinos are learning to live with Covid-19.
This is the observation of Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion and OCTA Research fellow Fr. Nicanor Austriaco as vaccination rates "hardly moved" in the past month.
Austriaco believes that it would be incorrect to dismiss low booster rates as mere complacency.
Based on data from the National Covid-19 Vaccination Dashboard, vaccination rates hardly moved in the past month, with only 18.1 million booster vaccinations administered despite the 71.5 million people who are eligible for it.
“The Filipino people appear to have moved beyond vaccines,” he said, adding that people are now weighing how much risk is acceptable to them.
“They see people around them with mild illness, and they appear to have concluded that the cost of getting a booster is greater than the risk of getting sick with mild Omicron Covid-19,” Austriaco said.
Concepcion, on the other hand, observed that the preferred use of antigen testing may also be contributing to the underreporting of cases.
“I believe more people are infected but most are not reporting the cases anymore since antigen testing is what is used more often,” he said.
He said that this may also be contributing to low booster uptake because those who are being infected do not bother to take boosters anymore.
“Omicron will act as a booster for those who get it,” Austriaco said, adding that he believes natural infection is significantly better than the Omicron booster that is being rolled out in the United States because there is significant data that shows that natural immunity is more robust than vaccine immunity.
However, both Austriaco and Concepcion, who is also a member of the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) formed by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., reiterate the call to get a booster shot.
“We should still try to avoid illness when we can. Get a booster!”
Austriaco also thinks that there must be a deadline for people to avail of the free vaccines, possibly motivating them to be boostered immediately. He also suggested that it might be time to remove mandatory masking for outdoor situations.
“Only have them on public transportation and health care facilities. Yes, this will allow some Omicron spread but in light of the decision of many Filipinos not to get boosted, it is better to allow for Omicron illness among those whose immunity is waning now to strengthen population immunity rather than to face a possible deadlier variant in six months that could kill more people,” he said.
Concepcion also said, “I feel outdoor masking should be optional. It allows Filipinos to manage their risks.”
Concepcion is now looking at mitigation as a strategy, and believes that stocking up on antiviral pills like Molnupiravir and Paxlovid would be the more practical move.
“People are starting to get together, to go out, return to normal activities, and some of them will get infected,” he said.
He added that other strategies will depend on whether or not the President follows through with his plan to extend the State of Public Health Emergency until the end of 2022.