A health expert said Thursday that an annual or bi-annual vaccination is a possible option to maintain protection against more severe COVID-19 variants.
Infectious diseases expert Dr. Rontgene Solante said during a public briefing that the immunity from COVID-19 vaccines wane after six to eight months.
This means, a person vaccinated against COVID-19 will have less protection after that period.
Solante said as long as there is a COVID-19 case in the country, there is always a possibility for the cases to rise. Thus, there is a need for continuous protection against the respiratory disease to prevent the mutation of a more severe case.
At least 73.7 million Filipinos are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while 21 million have received their booster shots, based on the Department of Health’s (DOH) national COVID-19 vaccination dashboard.
Based on DOH’s latest data, at least 6,662 beds were occupied, while 21,640 were vacant as the bed occupancy in the country stood at 23.5% as of Sunday, Dec. 4.
The Philippines also recorded 883 new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, while the tally of active cases went down to 17,481.
The Philippines on Wednesday joined the international community in its initiative to provide free and universal access to quality jabs against COVID-19 and other vaccine-preventable diseases.
During the 2nd Vaccine Cooperation Forum in the Indo-Pacific Region, Philippine Ambassador to South Korea Maria Theresa Dizon-de Vega said the COVID-19 pandemic taught countries a lot of lessons and gave the Philippines the opportune time to engage with its partners in the region and worldwide.
“And these are on the best practices for health management, data-driven governance and smart governance, for our health system and hopefully, we could take away some inputs, which we can use, which we can modify, depending on the needs of our public citizens in the Philippines,” she said.
The forum gathered 20 health experts and top officials from South Korea, the United States, Australia, and member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in a bid to strengthen the resilience and preparedness of countries for future pandemics.
Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Hyundong Cho said the Korean government hosts discussions as “it actively contributes to building a free, peaceful, and more prosperous Indo-Pacific region” as the region acts unitedly against the threats of COVID-19.
“Regionally, ASEAN quickly harnessed its collective efforts and launched the ASEAN COVID-19 Response Fund and the Regional Reserve of Medical Supplies making a rapid region-wide response possible,” he said. “ASEAN also took leadership in the region’s recovery by adopting the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework.
The Department of Health (DOH) logged Wednesday some 1,037 new COVID-19 cases, as the active tally dipped to 17,426.
This came a day after less than 1,000 COVID-19 infections were recorded.
The active cases dropped from 17,481 reported on Tuesday, based on the DOH’s latest figures.
The DOH said the nationwide tally is currently at 4,044,000.
The National Capital Region (NCR) recorded the highest infections in the recent two weeks with 5,375 cases, followed by Calabarzon with 2,097, Central Luzon with 1,066, Western Visayas with 936, and Central Visayas with 803.
The recovery tally increased to 3,961,780 with 1,095 new recoveries while 24 new fatalities were recorded bringing the death tally to 64,794.
The country’s bed occupancy climbed to 24% with 6,791 beds occupied while 21,466 were vacant as of Monday, Dec. 5.
A total of 13,794 individuals were tested, while 341 testing labs submitted data as of Tuesday, Dec. 6.