By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
Increased transmission of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country this month has been blamed mainly on Filipinos’ lackadaisical attitude on observing minimum health standards. The World Health Organization concludes we were swept off our feet by “vaccine optimism” that we lost focus on suppressing the risk of infection on a sustained level till herd immunity – the vaccination of 70-80 million of the population – is achieved.
But what did WHO representative to the Philippines, Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, mean by vaccine optimism? Apparently, it was a false sense that with vaccines now being rolled out, the chances of catching COVID-19 on the street are far less than before. Plainly put, that’s a wrong and premature celebration that our lives are back to normal with the advent of vaccines in the country.
As of this writing, only 0.26 percent of the population – or in a more accurate context, some 269,000 out of the country’s 1.7 million health workers – have been inoculated. That means practically everyone we come across in public can be a potential carrier of the virus, except for a certain two out of 10 health care workers. This should remind us all to observe minimum public health standards at all times.
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Last week, this corner already bewailed the super slow pace at which the national vaccination program moves. Of course, no apologies could be squeezed from our pandemic response officials, but vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. confirmed, one way or another, that we have a measly supply of COVID-19 jabs to go around. His promise, though, is that we’ve placed multiple orders and that once they arrive in bigger batches starting April, we can expect between 1 million and 3 million inoculations in a week. How I wish he’s good at fulfilling promises.
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For now, let’s hope the hard GCQ or general community quarantine status restored in Metro Manila, as well as the adjoining provinces of Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite, and Laguna, would slow down the runaway numbers of new COVID-19 cases in the country. Last weekend, we had the biggest two-day tally of new COVID-19 infections on record, with 15,756. Apart from hoping, let’s cooperate in our own way to arrest this explosion of new cases.
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Sadly, our Department of Health secretary is acting “stupid,” again – that’s if I understood Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin’s tweet last weekend correctly. What I’m sure of is that DOH Sec. Francisco Duque III has a draft order banning a particular group of companies – mainly engaged or hold stakes in “sin” products, milk formula, and sweetened drinks and beverages – from procuring COVID-19 vaccines for their employees.
Lawmakers were quick to call Duque’s planned inclusion of this draft order in the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act (RA 11525) as “discriminatory.” I call it fascist.
Under the new law, private companies may procure vaccines in cooperation with the DOH. In this case, Duque is barring the right of certain private entities to help arrest the pandemic by inoculating their respective workforce. How inhumane is that?
Suppose he’s doing this because these firms manufacture products like cigarettes, alcohol, and milk formula, which are in conflict with the interest of public health. What public interest is he promoting by depriving thousands of workers in these companies – all drivers of our economy – a serum to protect their lives from the pandemic?
By issuing such an administrative order, Duque is sabotaging the very essence of the public-private partnership provision in the vaccination law passed by Congress. He is closing the door on specific industries to pitch in their money to help the government secure enough vaccines needed by our people without borrowing more funds from global financial institutions.
I think I understood Sec. Locsin the first time I read his tweet. “Stupid” nga!
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