63% of COVID-19 fatalities are senior citizens - DOH

Senior citizens make up more than 60 percent of the country’s coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) fatalities, data from the Department of Health (DOH) showed Thursday.

According to Ivan Mayrina’s report on “24 Oras,” analysis shows that out of the 13,039 COVID-19 fatalities, 8,225 or 63 percent were senior citizens aged 60 years and above.

Healthcare workers are on top of the priority groups for vaccination against COVID-19, followed by senior citizens and other sectors.

“Yes, senior citizens are the best candidates for COVID vaccination. ‘Yan lang ang protection nila, eh. Tumatanda na ang katawan pati ang immune system,” Dr. Shelly Ann dela Vega, director of the Institute on Aging, said.

[Yes, senior citizens are the best candidates for COVID vaccination. It’s their only protection. Their bodies are aging as well as their immune system.]

“Kung hindi pa bakunahan, mas mahirap silang mag recover. Safe po ang ating mga bakuna para sa mga senior citizens,” she added.

[If they are not vaccinated, they will have a harder time recovering. Our vaccines are safe for senior citizens.]

At present, only COVID-19 vaccines developed by Chinese firm Sinovac and British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca have arrived in the Philippines.

Despite this, there is still not enough data if Sinovac’s vaccine is safe for individuals age 60 years and above.

“Once they do that, once they submit... all of the scientific data and evidence, then we can always revise that EUA (Emergency Use Authorization),” Food and Drug Administration director-general Eric Domingo said.

“But at this time, we have not received this evidence so the approved dedication is for people who are 18 to 59 years,” he added.

Meanwhile, though AstraZeneca’s vaccine is approved for senior citizens, it is currently being used for medical frontliners.

Senior citizens may also receive vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Sputnik V. However, it is still unclear when these vaccines will arrive. -- Joahna Lei Casilao/BAP, GMA News