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Expert worries over PH areas with low vaccination rate, weak healthcare system

Philippines | National

Expert worries over PH areas with low vaccination rate, weak healthcare system

By Charie Mae F. Abarca

A public health expert expressed his concern over Philippine areas with low coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination rate and weak healthcare system amid the ongoing surge of infections.

(Mark Felix/ AFP/ MANILA BULLETIN)

“The positivity rate is 43 percent today, then the cases soared from 22,000 to 31,000 without the inclusion of rapid antigen test in the data of the Department of Health (DOH). Really worried about countryside Omicron spread low vaccination rate and weak health care system in a political campaign period where mobility is an aggravating factor,” said public health expert and former National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19 special adviser Dr. Anthony “Tony” Leachon in a Facebook post on Thursday, Jan. 20.

Leachon previously stated that the Omicron surge in the country is like a chickenpox spread as it both exhibit a “centripetal distribution.”

Centripetal distribution means that any damage or abnormal change is more concentrated in the center, which in the case of Omicron surge in the country is the National Capital Region (NCR).

He likewise reiterated that while the situation in NCR improves, the infections continuously spread to other “peripheral regions”, bringing danger to areas with low vaccination rate and insufficient healthcare capacity.

Related Tags

covid-19 vaccination healthcare system pandemic Dr. Tony Leachon OMICRON VARIANT

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