The OCTA Research Team on Thursday said the Philippines was at “very low” risk and not experiencing a surge in Covid-19 cases unlike some of its Asian neighbors.
OCTA fellow Dr. Guido David said Covid-19 in the Philippines had an average daily attack rate (ADAR) of 0.43 as of March 22.
South Korea, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Singapore and Brunei are experiencing “severe” Covid-19 outbreaks, he said.
Japan, Thailand and Malaysia are at “very high” risk, Laos is at “high” risk, while Indonesia is at “moderate” risk.
Also under the “very low” classification are China, Myanmar, Cambodia, Taiwan and Timor Leste.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier said the country had a stronger “immunity wall” compared to its Asian neighbors due to its diverse vaccine portfolio.
Eleven vaccine brands have been approved for emergency use in the Philippines: Covovax, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Sputnik V, Sputnik Light, Janssen, AstraZeneca, Covaxin, Sinopharm (Beijing), Sinopharm (Wuhan) and Sinovac.
The vaccines approved in the country work in various ways. Some use inactivated, weakened or killed copies of the whole or part of the virus or bacteria, and some use genetic product (like mRNA vaccines) that create protein copies without causing disease.
The Philippines has more than 65 million individuals fully vaccinated against Covid-19. John Ezekiel J. Hirro