Duque: COVID-19 surge also seen in countries with high vaccination rates

The Department of Health said on Monday that the COVID-19 surge in the Philippines was not necessarily connected to the country’s vaccination rate given that countries with high vaccine coverage also experienced a similar surge.

“Unang-una, ‘yung mga bansang mataas ‘yung vaccine coverage, marami sa kanila sumipia din ‘yung kaso,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said at the Laging Handa briefing.

(First of all, countries with high vaccine coverage also experienced a rise in cases.)

According to Duque, the country’s vaccination supply only stabilized in October 2021, unlike other countries that already had vaccines in 2020.

“Sila nga mismo ang mga manufacturer ng mga bakunang ito and despite that, ang taas ng kanilang vaccine coverage… pero kita mo naman sobrang taas pa rin ang kanilang mga kaso, sumisipa pa rin,” he said.

(They are the manufacturers of vaccines and they have high vaccine coverage. Despite that you can see that they still have a large number of cases.)

“So hindi naman ‘yun necessarily connected,” he added.

The DOH previously said that vaccinated individuals may still get infected with COVID-19. Vaccines, however, protect from severe infection as well as death.

Odette

Duque also stressed that Typhoon Odette, which devastated several provinces in December 2021, affected the country’s vaccination program.

“Tapos tayo nagkaroon pa tayo ng Typhoon Odette, sila wala naman silang Typhoon Odette… hindi naituloy ang pagbabakuna dahil nga napinsala ang napakaraming infrastraktura, kuryente,” he said.

(We also had Typhoon Odette, they didn’t have Typhoon Odette… We could not continue our vaccinations because so much infrastructure was damaged.)

Duque issued the remark after the World Bank’s Philippine office published a report on Wednesday saying that the country's “vaccination[s] continued to lag regional peers.”

“The slower vaccination and higher mobility during the holiday season are the likely causes why the Philippines is one of the first to experience an Omicron variant surge in the region, recording higher cases per capita than other ASEAN countries, as of Jan. 11,” the WB added.

However, the Health Secretary said that the assessment was “unfair.”

“So hindi ata tama, unfair naman yung kanila na sasabihin dahil mabagal ang ating vaccination coverage kaya sumipa. Hindi ganon yun,” he said.

(So it’s not right, it’s unfair that they should say it’s because our vaccination coverage is slow and that’s why cases increased. That’s not how it works.)

At present, Duque said around 59.7 million Filipinos received at least one dose while 57.2 million have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. — DVM, GMA News