By Pearl Gumapos
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday (Nov. 30) expressed its support for the Philippines’ three-day inoculation drive, National Vaccination Days.
“The WHO is fully supportive of the National Vaccination Days campaign. We are talking with the DOH already of a potential repetition of NVD within the month of December,” WHO Representative in the Philippines Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe said during the Laging Handa public briefing.
Abeyasinghe also said the organization supports the Alert Level System as well, saying that it is important for the country to be prepared in case the Omicron variant enters the Philippines.
“We support the alert levels because we recognize that COVID-19 is here for the long term and we need to manage the risk of COVID-19 without harming the economic lives,” he said.
“And so the shift from quarantine classifications to alert levels allows for greater economic activity is welcome and we support it. We need to be careful in monitoring the situation for potential presence of Omicron in the country,” he added.
Abeyasinghe said it was important to take a risk-based approach to manage the pandemic.
It’s vital to increase the alert levels by having stringent measures at points of entry, he said.
He also said that the country must continue to support the Philippine Genome Center to make possible the expansion of its whole genome sequencing capacity.
“We need to support the Philippine Genome Center to expand its whole genome sequencing capacity so that we are better equipped to detect Omicron early enough and we can initiate appropriate control measures and alert levels,” he said. – bny
