The World Health Organization (WHO) and our own medical experts have once again urged the public to get themselves vaccinated including booster shots.
The WHO urged national and local government units (LGUs) to intensify their vaccination program.
Medical experts who have been involved in the fight against the pandemic since Day 1 have expressed concern that the unimpressive booster shot coverage and the possible entry of the Omicron XE sub-variant could cause a surge of COVID-19 cases next month.
“We’re thinking that, by May, cases may surge because it’s possible for the Omicron subvariant to enter the country. Secondly, vaccine booster coverage is low,” said Philippine College of Physicians (PCP) president Dr. Maricar Limpin in a radio interview which was in turn reported by Philippine Star.
In the report, Dr. Limpin also noted that there are people who completed their primary vaccine series last year, but have yet to receive their booster shots and now have waning immunity and thus are prone to infection.
The Department of Health data indicated that only about 12.2 million people have received their booster shots out of 66.2 million fully-vaccinated Filipinos.
The WHO previously warned of a possible surge due to political and religious activities. The WHO is, of course, referring to the very high number of people attending rallies in the current campaigning for the May 9 general elections and the Catholic fiestas traditionally celebrated in the month of May.
We cannot just ignore the warning being aired by the WHO and medical experts because it has basis. The most desirable reaction is for the people to be fully vaccinated, and including booster shots.
