By Mark Fetalco
The Department of Health (DOH) said Friday they are again seeing an increase in COVID-19 infections among healthcare workers (HCWs).
According to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, the downward trend of the number of healthcare workers who became infected from November to February has reversed to an increasing trend this March.
“From 474 infections in February, we now have a total of 684 from March 1 to March 25. So talagang ma-expect po natin ‘yan dahil sila ang nag-aalaga sa mga taong may COVID [we can expect this because they are the ones taking care of people with COVID],” she said in an online forum.
DOH data show that as of March 25, there are 15,662 confirmed cases among healthcare workers out of 693,048 confirmed cases nationally.
Amid the spike of infection among healthcare professionals, Vergeire reiterated the importance of giving priority to medical workers in the vaccination effort as they are the ones who are most exposed to the virus, and given the limited supply of vaccines.
600,000 HCWs not yet in the masterlist
The DOH said about 600,000 of the estimated 1.8 million healthcare workers in the country are still not registered in the DOH’s masterlist for vaccination.
“As of the other day, ang atin pong masterlisted [those on the masterlist] is about 1.2 million and we know that our estimate for our healthcare workers [is] 1.8 [million],” Vergeire said.
She added these healthcare workers are either not affiliated with a hospital or clinic, are doing freelance, or are working in dialysis stations, dental clinics, or chemotherapy clinics.
“We coordinated with the local chapters of societies for the healthcare workers, mga dental societies, and midwife societies para tawagin ‘yung kanilang mga miyembro para mabakunahan na natin sila lahat dito sa ating [to call their members to get themselves vaccinated at our] vaccination sites,” Vergeire said.
She said all health workers should be covered first before the country can move on to the next priority sector of the vaccination program.
Quick Substitution List
The DOH has reminded local government units and hospitals to only include healthcare workers in the quick substitution list (QSL) for COVID-19 vaccination.
The QSL aims to prevent the wastage of vaccines which may occur when, on the day of vaccination, someone in the masterlist backs out.
Vergeire said that even before the rollout of the government’s vaccination program, the DOH met with hospital chiefs to explain to them the protocol on QSL which should be prepared ahead of time.
“And we also emphasize in this protocol, and also emphasize during these town hall meetings, na ang ating kasama sa [that those with us on the] quick substitution list would also be a part of the priority sector for now, which are the healthcare workers who are our frontliners. So sabi natin ang [so we said our] healthcare workers natin, it’s from A.1 to A.7 [priority list categories],” she relayed.
Meanwhile, the DOH pointed out that while depression is considered a comorbidity, healthcare workers are still the priority for vaccination.
This came after Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez defended the substitute vaccination of actor Mark Anthony Fernandez, saying he suffers from hypertension and depression.
“Although we recognize this as a comorbidity, but again as I’ve have said, hindi pa po tayo nandoon sa level ng sector na ‘yun para bigyan sila ng bakunang ito [we are not yet at that level of that sector for them to receive vaccines],” Vergeire said.
