A health expert reminded the public of the importance of Covid-19 vaccination amid the presence of new variants of coronavirus in the country.
Covid-19 vaccines can help prevent severe illness, said infectious disease expert and Department of Health (DOH)–Technical Advisory Group member Dr. Edsel Salvana in a recent media forum.
“Vaccines still work well against severe disease. Important ang first booster especially for Omicron (The first booster is important especially for Omicron),” he said.
“We really have to get boosted if we are 12 years old and above... Nato-top up talaga ang immunity pag nakakuha ka ng first booster lalo na (Immunity really tops up when you get the first booster, especially) for severe infections. The first booster is essential for Omicron,” he added.
Salvana also emphasized the importance of wearing face masks.
“Yung (The) preventive measures aside from our vaccines, yung (the) masks decrease risk by 85 percent,” he said.
“While we are still figuring out kung ano talaga yung impact ng XBB at XBC, siguro importante na ipagpatuloy natin yung pag wear ng mask natin kasi baka nga sumipa yung cases (it is still important that we continue to wear our masks because the cases might spike),” he added.
Salvana said “we need to continue our preventive measures until we know the full impact of these new variants.”
Last Oct. 18, the DOH reported that the presence of both Omicron subvariant XBB and XBC variant is already in the country.
There is now localized community transmission of the Omicron subvariant XBB in Western Visayas and the XBC variant in Davao region and Soccsksargen.
The DOH, however, noted that the number of severe and critical Covid-19 patients infected with the Omicron coronavirus variant and its subvariants remains low in the Philippines.