THE Philippines has already achieved substantial population immunity against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), molecular biologist Fr. Nicanor Austriaco said on Monday, December 6, 2021.
In his report during President Rodrigo Duterte’s Talk to the People Address, Austriaco said the substantial population immunity was indicative in the drop of Covid-19 cases in the country despite the increase of mobility of people and the prevailing threat of the most infectious Delta variant, which is the dominant strain in the Philippines.
“We are currently with Delta, the most infectious variant in the past 20 months, the highest mobility levels in the past 20 months, more and more of our kababayans are moving around, and yet we are experiencing the lowest levels of cases and hospitalizations in 20 months,” he said.
“And so what these three mean together is that it suggests that we have attained substantial population immunity from natural infections and vaccinations in the urban areas of the Philippines because the pandemic has raged and spread primarily in our cities and in our first-class municipalities. And so the fact that the virus is struggling to find new Filipinos to infect suggests that we have attained substantial population immunity,” he added.
Austriaco said it is also “striking” that the country is experiencing the lowest hospitalization in 20 months.
Based on data from the Department of Health (DOH), the country’s hospitalization rate is at low risk with less than 50 percent hospital bed utilization.
Austriaco noted that while Thailand and Malaysia experienced Delta variant-driven surge earlier than the Philippines, they have not yet contained the spike.
Aside from the natural immunity brought about by Covid-19 infection, Austriaco highlighted the importance of vaccination.
“At this time, given our significantly high numbers of vaccination, not only in the NCR (National Capital Region) but in many of our cities. Secretary Vince (Dizon) just sent me the numbers for our cities and our first-class municipalities, and many of them are quite significant, above 70 percent for the first dose at least,” he said.
“What we are seeing here is that at least the NCR, with nearly a hundred percent protection of the adults and with the increasing numbers of our teenagers, is probably going to be robustly protected against the future surge,” he added.
As of December 6, 92,752,986 doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered with 53,492,838 as first dose.
A total of 38,699,023 individuals have been fully vaccinated, while 561,126 got their booster dose. (SunStar Philippines)