DOH to public at Marcos inaugural: Make sure you're vaccinated with boosters

Filipinos who will gather in Manila for the inauguration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as the country's 17th president better be vaccinated with boosters against COVID-19, the Department of Health said on Wednesday.

According to Lei Alviz's report on "24 Oras", Health Undersecretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire also urged those who will be at the inauguration to wear their masks and have their disinfectant alcohol ready.

“Please wear your masks properly. Magdala po tayo ng mga alcohol. Basta siguraduhin niyo lang ‘pag nagpunta kayo d’yan, kayo po ay bakunado with your booster shots,” Vergeire  said.

(Please wear your masks properly. Bring alcohol. If you are going there, ensure you are vaccinated with booster shots.)

Vergeire said Filipinos’ compliance with the minimum public health standards decreased by 21 percent based on studies.

The DOH is now coordinating with local government units (LGUs) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to boost its implementation.

The Philippines has recorded 5,147 new COVID-19 cases from June 22 to June 28, 2022 — the highest in 16 weeks based on the analysis of GMA Research on the DOH data. It averages 735 fresh infections daily.

Despite the uptick, the DOH said there was no need to raise the alert status in Metro Manila in accordance with the new metrics of the National Alert Level System.

“Ang pinaka-importante po sa atin ngayon ay mai-manage at ma-maintain natin ang ating mga ospital na hindi dumadami po ang mga nagkakasakit at na-admit...ma-maintain natin na mababa po ang severe at critical,” Vergeire said.

(The most important thing here is for us to keep from increasing the number of patients who have to be admitted in the hospitals. We should ensure that we have few severe and critical cases.)

“Although meron tayong binabantayang mga ospital sa ngayon, mga areas ngayon sa NCR, kung saan tumataas ang admissions sa ICU pati sa COVID beds, ‘yung isang lugar tatlo lang kasi ang ICU beds so pag nagpasok ng tatlo, 100% na sila agad,” she added.

(Although we're focusing on our hospitals, there are areas in NCR where admissions in the ICU and COVID beds are increasing... But some areas only have three beds so if they admit three patients, they will be already at 100%.)

The aforementioned metrics prompted the reversion of cities of Pasig, San Juan, Quezon City, Marikina, and Pateros from “Moderate Risk” back to “Low Risk”.

On the other hand, the DOH has given its green light for the inoculation of non-immunocompromised individuals aged 12 to 17 years old, reminding that the gap between the second dose and the third dose should not be more than five months apart.

It also asked the Food and Drug Administration to look into giving persons aged 50 to 59 years old as well as those with comorbidities of second booster shots.

Still, the DOH said its priority was to improve Filipinos’ first booster coverage. —Sundy Locus/NB, GMA News