Poor Bloomberg ranking doesn't mean Philippine COVID-19 response is weak –WHO

The Philippines’ poor showing in a Bloomberg report does not mean the country’s COVID-19 response has been weak, World Health Organization representative to the Philippines Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe said Tuesday.

The WHO official was reacting to the Bloomberg report in which the Philippines slipped into the second-to-the-last position in a global ranking that measures the success of the 53 biggest economies at containing the COVID-19 pandemic with the least amount of disruption to the society and the economy.

Abeyasinghe explained in an ANC interview that the report was looking at countries that are ready for the economic rebound and it has selected indicators to rank various countries.

The WHO official said he agrees with Health Secretary Duque III that the report was “unfair” as one of its main indicators was the vaccination program of different countries.

“I would agree [with Sec. Duque] but then we need to look at it from what perspective is this survey being done, for what purpose. We shouldn’t get carried away by the results of the survey saying that our response is weak. We have performed poorly based on that survey because the indicators they selected were looking at how fast the economy can rebound by opening up for travel,” he explained.

“From that perspective, because we have low vaccine coverage, we don’t meet it, but that doesn’t mean that our response has been weak,” he added.

For Abeyasinghe, it is “unfair” to compare countries like the Philippines to other countries that have the resources to access and even invest in vaccines.

“Of course countries that invested heavily in vaccines, and countries that had the resources to invest in vaccines, have had higher vaccine rollout and so they’re using that to say we are more ready for investment, come invest in us. So this is the message that they are using this survey to convey,” he noted.

“And it’s unfair to compare apples and oranges. If countries don’t have access to vaccines, we’ve been highlighting it from the beginning of this, the global inequity in vaccine distribution is huge. And if one of the main criteria is access to vaccines, it’s not fair to compare the country on that basis,” he said.

Senator Risa Hontiveros earlier opposed Duque’s claim that the inequitable COVID-19 vaccine distribution was the reason behind the Philippines' low ranking in the said report.

She said the Bloomberg report is just the reflection of the truth on the ground. — DVM, GMA News