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Friday, March 29, 2024

‘Issue vaccination law’s IRR amid 2nd wave of pandemic’

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AS the co-chairman of the House Economic Recovery Cluster noted that circuit-breaker measures will no longer work, maybe issuing “simple and reasonable” implementing rules and regulations of the Covid-19 Vaccination Program (CVP) Act will.

“I have asked the government to issue the IRR [implementing rules and regulations] on the Covid-19 Vaccination Program Act already. We cannot be bogged down by bureaucracy in the middle of a second wave,” Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda of Albay said. “We can no longer afford paralyzing lockdowns. Border controls, too, will not work, as it appears that whatever we would like to stop at the borders are already here anyway. There is also little political or economic appetite for a further mobility restriction.”

The lawmaker noted that since minimum health standards are no longer observed as faithfully, “there is a false sense of security in the fact that some vaccines have already arrived. There is also lockdown fatigue.”

“This will be a bigger wave than the first one. Circuit-breaker measures will no longer work as much as effective vaccination. Overall, lockdowns may even hurt the country more than help,” he added. “That’s why we need a more ambitious pace of vaccination, combined with stricter minimum health standards and stronger healthcare system support.”

Five measures

CITING data from his team’s monitoring, Salceda said “the fact that the infectivity rate has shown no signs of slowing down, filling up Covid-19 centers at this stage will be inevitable.”

The lawmaker said “one key fact is that the share of mild cases remains at 97.5 percent and this means that currently, only around 2,000 patients are in need of hospital care.”

“If we can control this number and expand care-capacity, we can endure this wave without paralyzing the economy,” he said. “Moving forward, based on our assessment of the situation, we proposed at least five absolutely required measures to fight this recent surge.”

First, Salceda said the government should complete the administration of all vaccines currently available.

He noted that only around 200,000 of the about one million vaccines already available in the country have been injected.

“This is absolutely dismal performance. If this pace persists, we will need 30 years to fully achieve herd immunity. We must boost vaccine confidence among healthcare workers,” he said. “The best vaccine is not any particular brand; the best vaccine is the one available now. Waiting for a preferred brand is risking one’s life.”

Second, the lawmaker said out-of-hospital care capacity should be expanded.

“Most Covid-19 cases can be treated at home. This is where the barangay health care worker system is critical. We need to hire more of them to monitor local cases and provide remote advice and assistance,” Salceda said. He urges the national government to hire telemedicine facilities to expand its remote care capacity.

Third, the lawmaker said the government should keep only essential functions on-site.

“Up to now, many government offices insist on staffing their workplaces, even when their workers can perfectly work offsite. This is very unwise.”

He is urging the Civil Service Commission to release guidelines “insisting that only those who truly need to go to work should be required to go to work.”

“Private workplaces have been wiser in this regard,” Salceda added.

Remove red tape

THE fourth measure, according to the lawmaker, is to train local governments on administering localized lockdowns.

“There will be granular lockdowns at the LGU [local government unit] level.”

Salceda is urging the Department of Health (DOH) to ensure that LGUs “know how to administer these lockdowns.”

“I urge the National Task Force to help them support the needs of these communities,” he said.

Lastly, the solon said the government should remove red tape on private sector vaccine procurement.

“The private sector can do better with vaccine procurement because it does not suffer from the hesitation of vaccine companies to deal with government entities.”

Salceda added that the IRR of Republic Act 11525 (CVP Act) have not been released. He said they obtained draft copies of the IRR “suggesting that the DOH may even ban certain industries from procuring these vaccines.”

“Our intent in Congress was to allow as many players as soon as possible to be able to procure vaccines,” Salceda said. “Congress will hold agencies accountable if they contradict that intent.”

Stimulus

FOR her part, Marikina Rep. Stella Luz A. Quimbo said the effectiveness of any lockdown will not be maximized unless government provides another stimulus for households, workers, businesses and LGUs under the proposed Bayanihan 3.

“Should government decide to tighten restrictions, additional ‘ayuda’ will be needed to ensure that people who must quarantine will do so, knowing their families’ basic needs will be met,” Quimbo said. “For workers ‘especially “no work, no pay” workers’ to comply with the stay at home policy, they need to be assured of a source of income for basic needs especially food.”

She added that workers who are Covid-positive need the same assurance that they will continue to be paid despite a prolonged absence at work.

“Firms, including providers of public transportation, need subsidies to test their workers and comply with minimum health standards,” Quimbo said. “Barangays need additional resources if they are expected to implement lockdowns.

Bayanihan 3

ACCORDING to Quimbo, these additional resources include food packs and additional police personnel to help monitor the borders and movement of people.

And as businesses continue to face lower revenues due to lockdown measures, the lady solon said the need for Bayanihan 3 remains.

“No matter what kind of lockdown measure we impose, for as long as we haven’t rolled out the vaccine to our target 70-percent population, businesses will be struggling and unemployment will continue to be the reality for many. Bayanihan 2 only provided for P6 bilion and that’s been released,” Quimbo said.

“We can reasonably infer that the lack of stimulus is why among Asean [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] countries, the Philippines, despite our longer and more stringent lockdown measures, still has not effectively and sustainably flattened our Covid curve,” she added.

The lawmaker also expressed hope that the economic managers heed lawmakers’ call that Bayanihan 3 be certified urgent.

‘Stay at home’

SPEAKER Lord Allan Jay Q. Velasco on Sunday urged the public to follow the advice of health authorities to stay at home amid the upsurge of Covid-19 cases in the country to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.

As the Philippines recorded skyrocketing spikes in cases in the last few days, Velasco said people should avoid non-essential travel and strictly observe health protocols even in their own homes.

Read full article on BusinessMirror

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