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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider DOH should pre-purchase anti-Covid drugs, says doctor-solon

DOH should pre-purchase anti-Covid drugs, says doctor-solon

Published Sep 8, 2022 12:11 pm

As the country slowly eases into a less rigid mask-wearing policy, Iloilo 1st district Rep. Janette Garin says that the Department of Health (DOH) should begin stocking up on Covid-19 antiviral drugs in preparation for a potential surge.

Iloilo City 1st district Rep. Janette Garin (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

“We need to take this with a grain of salt. With the lifting of the mask mandate, it is imperative that the Department of Health preposition antivirals so that the burden of health expenditure for moderate and severe cases will not be passed on to the people,” Garin said on Thursday, Sept. 8.

This, after the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) said they planned to allow the optional wearing of face masks outdoors.

READ:

https://mb.com.ph/2022/09/07/iatf-recommends-optional-wearing-of-face-mask-outdoors-doh/

https://mb.com.ph/2022/09/07/palace-mulls-voluntary-outdoor-masking-up-in-late-2022/

Garin, a doctor and former DOH secretary, is a proponent of easing facemask policies. She previously said that if the booster vaccination rate was to hit 70 percent, an optional mask policy could be implemented.

READ: https://mb.com.ph/2022/07/14/garin-says-ph-could-adopt-optional-mask-policy-if-booster-rate-hits-70/

The Iloilo representative also stressed the need for “bivalent” vaccines designed to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

“It is a fact that the definition of a fully vaccinated person has been compromised by the Delta and Omicron variants. Waning immunity or the protection from the original shots has begun to decline," she explained.

READ: https://mb.com.ph/2022/07/14/govt-needs-to-prep-budget-for-2nd-gen-covid-19-vaccines-says-garin/

In her statement, she cited a study conducted by the Microbiology Department of the University of Hongkong published on the Clinical Infectious Diseases Medical Journal 2020, which found that the act of wearing a mask reduced Covid-19 transmission rates through respiratory droplets by 75 percent.

"Put on masks, they actually protect other people especially when masks are worn by infected asymptomatic individual,” Garin concluded.

As of this posting, about 72,671,846 individuals have been administered a full dose of Covid-19 vaccine. Meanwhile, only 18,331,020 of them have received at least one booster dose.

Related Tags

drugs covid-19 facemask IATF
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