Health experts have repeatedly said that the key to control Covid infections is to speed up vaccinations, combined with sustainable testing, contact tracing, and observing health protocols such as mask wearing in public and safe distancing. The Philippines was one of the countries that implemented fairly strict measures early on, but it didn’t get vaccine supplies early enough to have stopped the raging Delta variant.
From Bloomberg: “The Philippines fell to last place in Bloomberg’s Covid Resilience Ranking of the best and worst places to be amid the pandemic, capping a steady decline over the course of 2021. The Philippines’s drop to No. 53 reflects the challenges it’s facing from the onslaught of the Delta variant, which has hit Southeast Asia particularly hard. The region, which recently had the worst outbreak in the world, populates the September Ranking’s lowest rungs, with Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam all in the bottom five.”
Bloomberg said infections in the Philippines remain elevated as Delta continues to spread, bringing cases throughout the course of the pandemic to more than 2.5 million as of Tuesday. “The most significant impediment to the Philippines’s response has been its limited access to vaccines.”
“The Philippines needs to focus on ramping up its vaccination rate. Given the limited doses already in place, the government should seek further supplies either via programs like the World Health Organization-backed Covax, or through bilateral agreements. It’s also key for the Philippines to ensure vaccines are targeted at the most at-risk populations first to further weaken the link between cases and deaths,” Bloomberg said.
We wrote in our Editorial last week that the Covid-19 vaccines are highly effective at preventing severe disease and death, including against the Delta variant. Studies, however, have shown that the protection provided by two doses wanes after six months. Procuring booster shots should be the country’s next priority for us to recover socially and economically from the lingering effects of the pandemic (See, “Govt needs private sector help vs Covid,” in the BusinessMirror, September 20, 2021).
Inoculated countries in Europe, North America and the Middle East are now eyeing booster shots, especially those that are experiencing another wave of infections caused by the Delta variant. The Philippines is in a tight race between infections and vaccinations. We are now in the seventh month of our vaccination program, which means those that received the first jabs—our medical frontliners, elderly people, and friends and relatives with comorbidities—are now seeing waning protection and could be vulnerable to Delta and other variants. We don’t want to risk breakthrough infections to these vaccinated citizens.
In a BusinessMirror report on September 10, Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin said the government should prioritize giving the third dose over herd immunity. “The third dose is what’s available now, therefore we should allow LGUs and the private sector to procure vaccines. They might be able to save us. Because if you talk about herd immunity—I’m sorry, even if 100 percent of the people are vaccinated for two doses there’s no herd immunity to talk about because of the Delta variant.”
We agree with Rep. Garin, a former Health secretary, that the government should let the local government units (LGUs) and private sector procure Covid vaccines, not just for the first two doses but also for the booster shots. And this should be done immediately. Other countries are already moving to secure additional vaccines for booster administration, which is expected to make supply availability a major issue.
At a media forum on September 15, Rep. Garin and Sen. Nancy Binay said the Vaccination Act of 2021, or Republic Act 11525, already covers procurement of vaccines by the private sector and LGUs for booster shots. They said the government can find ways and employ flexibilities to allow such vaccine purchases once Malacañang decides to do it. If the government does not have the money to procure booster shots, the private sector does. Corporations also have a faster turnaround in their procurement systems—they are willing and able. The government only needs to enable them through a policy shift—by allowing corporations to buy vaccines without the need for multi-party agreements.
As we said in our recent editorial, we sincerely hope that National Task Force Against Covid-19 Chief Implementer and Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez Jr. and the IATF, with continuous prodding from Rep. Garin, Sen. Binay and other like-minded policy-makers and experts will make this policy change fast. With the full and unhindered participation of the private sector, we can accelerate the country’s vaccine rollout and give booster shots to senior citizens and those with underlying medical conditions.