OCTA fellow molecular biologist Fr. Nicanor Austriaco urged Filipinos on Monday, December 6, to immediately get vaccinated against coronavirus disease (Covid-19), saying it will serve as their protection against the Omicron variant, which is currently causing case surges in other countries.
Austriaco, who is currently based in the United States, said once the Omicron variant enters the Philippines, it will “find” every unvaccinated person and it will make them sick.
“We have to continue to vaccinate and to boost our kababayans to build and maintain population immunity. This is really important po because the experience of Israel and other countries that vaccinated early showed that it is important to boost at the appropriate time to maintain population immunity,” he said in his report during President Rodrigo Duterte’s Talk to the People Address on Monday.
“We must increase the population immunity around our international gateways. Omicron will enter through an airport most likely. And so what we have to do is we have to build a wall of vaccinated Filipinos around these airports. Because once Omicron arrives, it will try to spread into the Filipino population. And if the Filipinos around the airports po -- and this was the rationale strategy for the NCR (National Capital Region) Plus 8 -- are heavily vaccinated, then it doesn’t matter if there is an OFW who returns home. Because even if this person is able to enter the community, the virus will struggle,” he added.
He also noted that vaccination and anti-viral drugs will end the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, which will lead to the opening of the society.
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.
Austriaco also called for the preparation of hospital infrastructure and an increase of healthcare workers.
He said based on recent findings about Omicron, it has more spike protein in which its shape is far different from the Delta variant, and this could mean that the virus is able to escape the immune protection a person has either from a previous infection of Covid-19 or from vaccination.
In South Africa, where the Omicron variant was first detected, cases were “exploding” but hospitalizations are not rising fast.
“So it is true that the preliminary data coming from South Africa suggests that the Omicron variant is more transmissible amongst vaccinated individuals,” he said.
“But it is really important to focus on hospitalizations po...preliminary data suggests that 10 times more unvaccinated individuals are being hospitalized as compared to vaccinated individuals,” he added.
He also said data showed that 10 of the 11 people testing positive for Delta variant who needed oxygen were unvaccinated.
“And again, what this suggests is that if you are vaccinated, this will protect you against severe disease and hospitalizations even with Omicron, which is good news for us,” said Austriaco.
He said there is no need for the public to panic amid the threat of the Omicron variant, saying Filipinos may celebrate the holidays freely.
Austriaco said the Philippines has already achieved substantial population immunity considering the drop of Covid-19 cases despite the increase in the mobility of people amid the continuous threat of the Delta variant, which is the most dominant strain in the country. (SunStar Philippines)