The Department of Health (DOH) said the implementation of the proposed “bakuna bubble,” which will separate the restrictions for COVID-19 vaccinated individuals and unvaccinated individuals, is not yet timely.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said on Tuesday (Aug. 31) the vaccine coverage of the country is still low to implement the “bakuna bubble.” Aside from this, the department is still not in favor of the dine-in services, which are normally enclosed spaces due to the Delta variant threat.
“Sa ngayon, pinag-aaralan ‘yan at ‘di po namin isasara ‘yung pintuan namin diyan sa ganyang usapin. Dadating po tayo sa punto na ‘yan once supplies are stable. Once vaccine coverage has improved already not just in NCR but also in other regions and once our cases are already manageable,” she said.
In relation to this, World Health Organization (WHO) Country Representative Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe opposed the “bakuna bubble,” especially that vaccinated people can still get infected.
“The concept of bubbles for vaccinated people does not actually hold true because you will continue to be at risk of getting infected, and if you are infected you could infect other people,” he said.
Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion proposed the “bakuna bubble” in the National Capital Region (NCR) as an alternative to lockdowns to provide more mobility for COVID-19 vaccinated individuals and protect the unvaccinated population against the virus.
“We are under a pandemic and the economy may collapse if we don’t manage the situation. We have to open the economy but let’s open it safely,” he said.
Meanwhile, National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19 Chief Implementer and vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. reported that the Philippines has vaccinated 18% of the target population.
As of Aug. 30, the Philippines administered a total of 33,099,392 vaccines with 19,314,711 as of the first dose and 13,784,681 as of the second dose. The daily average of COVID-19 jabs from Aug. 1 is 435,150. –
READ MORE: http://152.42.253.13/galvez-ph-receives-total-of-48-m-covid-19-vaccine-doses/
Report from Mark Fetalco/NGS- bny
