BBM urges public to avail of booster shot, comply with health standards

WITH no less than the Department of Health warning of a possible increase in severe and critical Covid-19 cases by August due to the waning immunity of the primary vaccine series, incoming President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. on Friday called on the public to avail of the free booster shots being offered by the government.

Marcos Jr. highlighted the urgency of taking booster doses noting that the waning immunity stems from the effect of the highly transmissible Omicron variant on the primary vaccine series.

“With the Covid pandemic still ongoing, different variants may still emerge. And as we have seen, some variants are not as resistant to the first and second doses as others. Hence, there is a need to enhance our immunity by getting booster shots. Kailangan ng dagdag na proteksyon,” he said.

A study on more than 1 million people in Qatar showed that people who were infected with an earlier version of the coronavirus and received three doses of an MRNA vaccine appear to be best protected against symptomatic infection by the Omicron variant.

This, as Marcos Jr. stressed the need for continued compliance with the minimum public health standards to prevent another surge of cases that could impede the country’s economic recovery.

“We have already made economic headways and we should not allow them to be brought to naught. This is why I am urging everyone to take part in preventing another surge that could block our way to economic recovery,” he said.

“We have to wear face masks and comply with other health standards to ensure our safety and that of our loved ones,” Marcos Jr. added.

Earlier, the health department has warned of a possible increase in severe and critical Covid-19 cases by August due to the waning immunity of the public.

It also warned that while hospitals are not overwhelmed at present, there could be an increase in hospitalization by August as there would be more severe and critical cases because of the waning immunity of the population.

The agency reported that the average number of new cases per day rose to 270 from 182 per day last week.

The OCTA Research group also projected the number of new Covid cases nationwide to hit 450 to 500, with 250 of those coming from the National Capital Region (NCR) as it noted that the single-day positivity rate in NCR had increased to 4 percent.

OCTA added that the new Covid-19 infections have accelerated with a reproduction number of 1.59, a slight increase from 1.29 last week.

Reproduction rate refers to the number of people infected by one case. A reproduction number that is below 1 indicates that the transmission of the virus is slowing down.

On Thursday the DOH recorded 425 new Covid-19 infections, the highest daily number of new infections in over two months, since 690 new infections were logged on April 3.

The new cases bring the nationwide caseload to 3,694,529, while the country’s active case count also continues to increase, reaching 3,462 on Thursday from 3,211 on Wednesday.