Herd Immunity Plans Canceled, Shift Toward “Population Protection” Eyed Instead
HERD IMMUNITY PLANS CANCELED – As the Philippines received more vaccine doses, the plan was to always go for herd immunity.
However, it appears as if the government is shifting their sentiment toward the program. Instead, the Department of Health said they were eyeing “population protection” against COVID-19.
During a televised public announcement, Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said:
We are shifting to the term ‘population protection’ through mass immunization kasi po iyong ating herd immunity, marami pong mga kaakibat na mga criteria
With the rise of new COVID-19 variants, herd immunity becomes an issue as some variants could still develop and infect others. Furthermore, Cabotaje said experts remain unsure if booster shots are required to strengthen a vaccine’s effectiveness against other variants.
But, even with the shift in plans, the government still eyes November 2021 for their “population protection target” in the NCR Plus bubble. Moreover, Cabotaje emphasized that the more people are vaccinated, the higher the chances of “population protection”.
“And the bigger the population that is vaccinated, we have population protection, so hindi magkakahawaan. Kung may magkahawaan man, this will be very mild“, she added.
Previously, the government aimed to vaccinated over 70 million Filipinos against COVID-19 to achieve herd immunity. However, due to a lack of supply in COVID-19 vaccines, a compromised was required.
Medyo ni-refocus natin ito at ang target natin ay about 50 to 60 percent, naka-concentrate iyan sa NCR Plus, para mas mapabilis – mass vaccination, population protection in geographic setting. So naka-limit sa certain geographic area
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