“We cannot afford another lockdown.”
Two years ago, many probably spent the first week of December writing shopping lists and preparing menus for the holidays. Last year, we were fortunate to have spent Christmas with eased restrictions as many areas were placed under general and modified general community quarantine. This year, while we bear the same hope of having a COVID-free Christmas, uncertainty looms with the emergence of a new COVID-19 variant.
The Omicron variant now poses a serious threat to our efforts in bringing down the number of COVID-19 infections in the country. We have successively recorded less than a thousand new cases in the country. With the national vaccination drive this week, the number of doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered nationwide reached 86 million by the end of November, with more than 300,000 doses of booster shots already given to priority groups. All of these feats led to the imposition of low COVID-19 alert levels.
However, these happy days may soon be numbered. Thankfully, the national government was quick to impose travel bans on countries with recorded cases of Omicron variants. While we have no reported cases at present, the DOH, nonetheless, warned of the possibility that this new variant will soon arrive in the country.
The World Health Organization and medical experts around the world are currently studying the transmissibility and severity of infection of this variant, as well as the performance of vaccines against the virus. Pharmaceutical companies reportedly started their research to create specific vaccines against the Omicron variant.
While we wait for developments, the government should conduct early assessment and analysis of the impact of this variant. The Philippine Genome Center earlier expressed the need to retest the samples received from last month. If there is anything we should have learned from the Delta variant, it is the need to expand and improve the currently limited capacity of our gene sequencing. The government should prioritize strengthening our biosurveillance capacity, as it is much needed in this pandemic. The DOH should also boost testing, especially in regions and provinces where vaccination is still low and contract tracing and active case finding are lacking.
With the reported 46 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines expected to arrive this month, there should be no let up in the vaccination drive. Vaccines remain to be our primary defense against this virus, and herd immunity is still our main target. However, there is an uneven vaccination rate among provinces in the country. The first national vaccination drive showed us how accessibility and logistics factor in the vaccination hesitancy and low inoculation rates in other areas.
Hence, I urge the Department of Health to increase allocation to provinces with low vaccination rates. I also urge local government units to reach out to barangays in setting up local vaccination sites, if necessary, especially in rural areas and areas with high percentages of inbound travelers. Local health units should conduct information drives in order to clarify doubts and address vaccine hesitancy.
We must learn from the lessons of the past. The previous spikes caused by the dominant Delta variant crippled not only the health care system but also the economy. Clearly, we cannot afford another lockdown. While, understandably, December is all about merrymaking, we have to stay vigilant and compliant to health protocols, regardless of vaccination status. At this point, an abundance of caution is useful.