The approved policy of a shorter isolation and quarantine period for fully vaccinated healthcare workers was based on scientific evidence, the Department of Health (DOH) and some medical experts said on Tuesday, Jan. 11.

DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that other countries are already adopting such a policy.

“Unang una, hinding-hindi magpapatupad ang ating gobyerno ng isang polisiya na magpu-put sa risk sa ating mga pasyente at ating healthcare workers. Lahat ng pinapatupad natin ay base sa siyensya at ebidensya (First of all, our government will never implement a policy that puts our patients and our healthcare workers at risk. Everything we implement is based on science and evidence),” said Vergeire.

Pediatric infectious disease expert Dr. Anna Ong-Lim also supported the statement of Vergeire.

“Hindi naman natin ia-dopt ang mga policies kung sa tingin natin walang basis (We will not adopt policies if we think there is no basis),” she said.

“On review, ang nakikita natin yung characteristics ng virus that allow it to be more transmissible also come with features that allow for viral clearance to happen over a shorter period of time. So yun ang pinagmumulan ng ating shortened quarantine and isolation recommendation,” she added.

Hospitals have the discretion if they will implement this policy or not, said infectious disease expert Dr. Edsel Salvana.

“Hindi naman automatic yung protocols na ito. Meron discretion ang hospital infection control na siyang sumusuri ng risk. Hindi naman nila papapasukin yan kung sa tingin nila sobrang infectious pa talaga o makakasama (These protocols are not automatic. The hospital's infection control has discretion to assess risk. They won't let if they think too infectious or if it is going to be harmful]),” he said.

“The government would not adopt policies that we think will be harmful. These are all science-based. And these are things that other countries are adopting. We will localize these depending on our own situation, but there are scientific basis for this policy shift. We continue to study not just what’s going on here, but we also look at what other countries are doing and what the experts in other countries are doing,” he added.

To note, fully vaccinated healthcare workers who are positive for COVID-19 but are asymptomatic, mild, or in moderate condition may isolate for five days, while their close contacts in hospitals are not required to undergo quarantine.

The DOH noted that the isolation and quarantine period for healthcare workers “may be reduced—not automatically but subject to the careful assessment of the hospital’s infection, prevention and control committee or the provincial health office.”

Shorter quarantine, isolation for general public

The DOH is also looking at implementing this policy for the general population.

“Pinag-uusapan na din with our experts yung alignment nitong polisiya na to with the general public, hindi lang healthcare workers (We are also discussing with our experts the alignment of this policy with the general public, not for just healthcare workers),” said Vergeire.

“Dahil nga po tulad ng sabi namin, may (As we said, there is) science and evidence to support this,” she said.

READ: IATF allows shortened period of quarantine for fully vaccinated health workers

DOH issues clarification on quarantine, isolation period