Stand up against Delta variant thru vaccines

MANILA – There is a need to encourage more Filipinos to avail themselves of the Covid-19 vaccine amid the threat of the highly contagious Delta variant, National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 medical adviser Dr. Ted Herbosa said Friday.

Herbosa cited the necessity to vaccinate more people “so the country could stand up against the risks posed by the Delta variant” as health authorities detected 12 more local transmissions that raised the total cases to 47.

“Basta may coordination lang ang national at lokal, tuluy-tuloy itong vaccination drive natin, then we can fight ‘yung Delta (As long as there is a coordination between the national and local governments in the vaccination drive then, we can fight the Delta variant),” Herbosa said during the arrival of another shipment of Sinovac vaccines at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 in Pasay City.

Of the 12 additional Delta variant cases, six are from Central Luzon, two from Calabarzon, one in the Bicol Region, and three in Metro Manila.

They all recovered but are still being monitored, according to the Department of Health (DOH) in a statement.

A Delta variant carrier can infect up to eight people, making it more vicious than the original strain of Covid-19, according to experts.

Herbosa assured the government prepared a contingency plan to deal with new cases.

Herbosa said the public should be more vigilant and avoid home quarantine as much as possible.

“Nakita natin sa ibang bansa, bahay-bahay yung mga na-i-infect (We saw in other countries, there’s an infection within households),” he said.

Latest vaccine shipment

On Friday morning, the Philippines received one million doses of the China-made vaccine bringing to 29,985,310 the total number of vaccine doses received — both procured and donated.

DOH Undersecretary Dr. Ma. Carolina Vidal-Taiño said the latest shipment will be deployed as second doses to high-risks areas in the National Capital Region (NCR), Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga, Batangas, Rizal, Bulacan, Metro Davao, and Metro Cebu.

“Ang deployment nito ay sa NCR Plus 8 and then the rest of the country. Meron na silang allocation for this. Assured na ‘yung mga dumating ay masa-satisfy natin ‘yung second dose ng vaccination. So assured na ‘yung mga nabigyan ng first ay mabibigyan agad ng second dose (These will be deployed in NCR Plus 8 and the rest of the country. They have an allocation for this. We assured that the latest shipment would satisfy our second dose of the vaccination. So those who received their first doses will surely get their second dose),” Taiño said.

The certificate of analysis (COA) of Sinovac will be given three to five days after the shipments are delivered.

The COA of the latest shipment, including the delivery of 1.5 million doses of Sinovac on Thursday, is expected this weekend or early next week.

Once the COA is available, Taiño said the vaccines will be immediately deployed.

Taiño said more local government units and private companies have expressed their willingness to hasten the Covid-19 vaccine rollout by opening additional sites.

Increasing vaccine demand

Meanwhile, NTF Sub-Task Force on Current Operations head Assistant Secretary Wilben Mayor said the vaccine demand has increased.

He then urged the public to avail themselves of the vaccines, regardless of brand.

“We are very glad that our vaccine demand is increasing,” he said, adding that the public’s eagerness to have themselves inoculated despite inclement weather means vaccine confidence is increasing.