Gov't should urge Pinoys to get COVID-19 booster shots —Padilla

The national government should encourage more Filipinos to receive their COVID-19 booster shots amid the threat of another surge of infections after the detection of the first Omicron BA.2.12 case in the country, senatorial candidate Dr. Minguita Padilla said Thursday.

Padilla stressed the country should start building up its immunity against the coronavirus even before the cases started to spike again.

“Ang problema natin although medyo okay ang vaccination rate — the basic vaccination— it is very difficult to convince people to get boosters,” said Padilla during a town hall meeting of the tandem of Senators Panfilo “Ping” Lacson and Vicente “Tito” Sotto III in Malabon City.

(Our problem is although the vaccination rate — the basic vaccination — is okay, it is very difficult to convince people to get boosters.)

“I think more efforts should be done and let’s not wait for the surge to come... kailangan ngayon bago pa mag-surge,” she said.

(I think more effort should be done and let’s not wait for the surge to come. It must happen now before the surge.)

Based on the latest data from the National Covid-19 Vaccination Dashboard of the  Department of Health, (DOH) a total of 145, 126, 895 vaccine doses have been administered in the country. Of the numbers, a total of 65,165,451 individuals have received their first doses while 66, 990,999 have completed their immunization.

A total of 12, 970, 445, meanwhile, were inoculated with the COVID-19 booster vaccine.

Padilla said the government should be “more creative” in persuading more Filipinos to avail their additional jab, noting in several local governments incentives were given to those

“I think the government should be more imaginative in encouraging boosters and overcoming 'yung mga fear of boosters. Sabi ng iba, ‘wala namang COVID bakit magpapa-booster?’ But the time should be before the surge, not while it is happening,” she said.

The DOH on Wednesday announced the first case of Omicron BA.2.12 was found in a 52-year-old Finnish female who visited Baguio City on April 2.

The unnamed foreigner was not required to undergo routine isolation at a quarantine facility since she was fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and arrived asymptomatic.

She finished her seven-day isolation and has recovered and been discharged. It added that the patient returned to her home country on April 21.

While it is “more infectious but not more severe”, the health department said BA.2.12 sublineage remains neither a variant of interest nor a variant of concern.—LDF, GMA News