A team of clinical experts from Israel said COVID-19 vaccination plays a crucial role in the pandemic response, particularly to the threat of a COVID-19 Delta variant outbreak in the country.
About 98% of reported variants in Israel are of the more transmissible Delta variant, despite the 90% population coverage of the country’s vaccination program.
“The main issue is vaccination, and we can see the Philippine government and Department of Health is pushing up the campaign of vaccination, and this is an opportunity for citizens to cooperate with this campaign,” Dr. Guy Choshen, Israel response expert delegate, said in a forum with other officials.
Israeli experts also shared some of their best practices against the pandemic, including the strict implementation of infection control protocols.
They also proposed vaccinating hospital patients’ visitors, after observing that many beds are being occupied by patients who are not supposed to be hospitalized. They also pointed out the slow process of COVID-19 testing.
“In our medical center, we have the results within 60 minutes. And here, what we observed that sometimes medical centers, emergency rooms have to wait for four hours for the results. They are using GeneXpert, it’s the same machine that we are using,” Choshen said.
Philippine Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said he is open to the suggestions of the experts. The second Israeli health delegation arrived earlier this week to discuss measures on pandemic response.
Meanwhile, the Philippine DOH said there is no community transmission yet in terms of the Delta variant, pending the links between the reported cases. The country has 216 Delta cases as of July 30 noon.
Based on DOH data, three of the eight Delta-related fatalities in the country were not vaccinated.
Jab interval
The Philippine’s vaccine experts panel (VEP) said they do not agree with recommendations to shorten the interval between two-dose COVID-19 vaccines.
VEP chief Dr. Nina Gloriani said antibody response is higher when Sinovac’s CoronaVac is administered 28 days after the initial dose.
She said studies also showed that AstraZeneca’s efficacy is higher when the doses’ interval is about 12 weeks.
“We have very good data on that na hindi pupwedeng shorter ang interval… For most of these vaccines, mas mahaba-haba iyong interval, mas mataas iyong antibody level,” Gloriani said during the July 29 Palace briefing. – Report from Mark Fetalco/AG-rir
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