Some experts insisted it was time to intensify the COVID-19 vaccine drive, even compliance with health standards, and the nation’s genome sequencing capacity after recording the first 2 cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) variant first seen in India.
It is amid a chronic spread of the disease in India, where over 23 million cases have been recorded and thousands die every day.
According to infectious disease expert Rontgene Solante, although there has been data that has slightly reduced the efficacy of vaccines against the B1617.2 variant, it is still the most effective defense against it so it is important to intensify the vaccine drive.
“We have to ramp up the vaccination. Kasi kapag dumating ang panahon na bumabagal ang pagbabakuna, alam naman natin na there’s ongoing transmission, mataas pa rin ang mga kaso, then the variant will also be a threat of increase in the cases because of low vaccination rates,” said Solante.
So far, just over 2 million have been given the first dose of the vaccine and more than 500,000 have been given the second dose. The government targets to vaccinate 70 million in the country to have herd immunity against the virus.
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Intensified vaccination drive, genome sequencing urged
It may be recalled that the Department of Health (DOH) said Tuesday that two sea-based overseas Filipinos have obtained the B1617.2 variant, which the World Health Organization considers as a “variant of concern.”
One of the positives arrived in the country on April 10 from Oman, while another arrived in the Philippines on April 19 from the United Arab Emirates.
For Dr. Eva Maria Dela Paz, executive director of the UP National Institutes of Health, it is important to strengthen genome sequencing for identifying COVID variant cases, including those from India.
So far, the country’s capacity for genome sequencing is still limited, which determines which variant has a recorded positive case of COVID-19.
Only 750 samples per week can be tested for the variant, according to the health department, while thousands of new cases are still being recorded every day.
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