HEALTH Secretary Francisco Duque said on Monday, February 21, 2022, that before further deescalating an area to Alert Level 1 or the “new normal,” 80 percent of its senior citizen and persons with comorbidities population should be vaccinated against coronavirus disease (Covid-19).In his report during President Rodrigo Duterte’s Talk to the People Address, Duque said the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) is reviewing its metrics in placing an area under Alert Level 1, where very minimal restrictions will be imposed amid the continuous decrease in Covid-19 cases in the country.“At ito ay pinag-aaralan ngayon ng mga eksperto na gumagabay po sa ating IATF at tinitingnan na po kung malapit nang mag-deescalate po tayo from Alert Level 2 to Alert Level 1… Idadagdag din po natin na bago makapag-deescalate to Alert Level 1, kinakailangan 80 porsiyento ng atin pong A2 and A3 ‘yung mga vulnerable groups ito po ‘yung mga senior citizens and individuals with comorbidities na dapat 80 percent of the eligible population ay kanila na pong naabot,” he said.(Experts who are guiding the IATF are currently looking into this and we are eyeing at deescalating the alert level from 2 to 1, but before we deescalate, 80 percent of the A2 and A3 priority groups — senior citizens and persons with comorbidities — must be vaccinated first.)“At kung hindi po sila ay makarating diyan po sa panukatan na iyan ay hindi po natin sila puwedeng ibaba to Alert Level 1. So maganda po itong karagdagang metric na atin pong isasama sa pag-assess ng sino ba ang at ano ba ang mga lugar na hinog na for an Alert Level 1,” he added.(If they have not reached the 80 percent yet, then we cannot place them under Alert Level 1. So this additional metric will help in our assessment on which area is ready for Alert Level 1.)Vaccinated populationFor his part, National Task Force chief implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said of the 90 million target, 62 percent or a total of 62,505,204 have been fully vaccinated.He said there were still around three million senior citizens and persons with comorbidities who are yet to get inoculated.The Department of Health (DOH) reported a total 1,427 fresh Covid-19 cases on Monday, pushing the total active cases to 58,657.The country has a total Covid-19 caseload of 3,653,526 with 55,763 deaths and 3,539,106 recoveries.Of the active cases, 760 were asymptomatic, 53,326 were mild, 2,845 moderate, 1,422 severe and 304 critical.Duque said from the seven days average of 16,000 cases on January 25 to 31, it went down to 1,972 from February 15 to 21.He said there is also low hospital admission during the surge due to the Omicron variant as compared to the Covid-19 waves caused by other variants such as Alpha and Delta.“So lahat po ay nababa na, patunay na (All figures are going down, proof that) we are over the Omicron hump,” said Duque.“Sa kabuuan, ang atin pong bayan ay nananatiling nasa low risk case classification. CAR (Cordillera Administrative Region) lamang po ang nasa moderate risk classification at ang healthcare utilization rates of regions lahat po ay low risk, maliban po sa ICU (Intensive Care Unit) ng Region 11,” he added.(The country is generally under low risk classification, except for Cordillera Administration Region, which is under moderate risk, and the healthcare utilization rates of the regions have already been under low risk, except the ICU rate in Davao.)Booster shotsGalvez said the government will now focus on encouraging the public to get booster doses.“Napakababa pa rin po ang ating boosters (The number of boosters given is still low), with 9.7 million doses administered… So we need to direct the 12 regions with high coverage to shift their focus in administering the boosters. Kailangan din po natin ang tulong ng mga pharmacies and medical clinics para po ma-expand ang mga booster sa tulong ng ating mga private sector (We also need the help of pharmacies and medical clinics to expand the booster vaccination),” he said.“Kailangan din po na mag-dedicate po tayo ng mga araw sa pagbabakuna ng boosters. At kailangan din po natin ang tulong ng lahat para hikayatin ang ating mamamayan na magpa-boosters para tuloy-tuloy at may dagdag na proteksiyon sa susunod na future surges,” he added.(We also need to schedule days for booster vaccination, and we need to encourage the public to get their booster shots as added protection against Covid-19 and the future surges.)Duque cited the importance of booster shots to further prevent severe or critical cases, as well as death due to Covid-19.“Please get the jab done and huwag po nating kakalimutan ‘yung (and don’t forget the) booster dose. Sapat po ang ating booster dose na may taglay na mas mataas na proteksiyon laban sa (we have enough supply of boosters doses which can help protect you from) Covid-19 variants and hopefully, even future variants will be neutralized by our booster doses,” he said.“So all eligible individuals kailangan magpa-booster dose na kaagad (must get their booster shots immediately). And to prevent further mutation and variants, and to prevent transmission and — of Covid-19, kinakailangan po ang proteksiyon para maiwasan ang severe or critical Covid infection at maibsan din po ang pagpapaospital, at higit po sa lahat, maiwasan ang pagpanaw ng atin pong mga pasyente (Additional protection is important to prevent severe or critical infections, and even death, as well as lower the hospitalization rate),” he added. (SunStar Philippines)