The Philippines should not implement “bubbles” for people who have already received both doses of the vaccine against Covid-19, both the Department of Health (DOH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Philippines said.
Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion III first made the proposal that only vaccinated individuals should be allowed entry in public establishments like malls and restaurants in places that have already vaccinated 70% to 80% of their population.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire explained that the health department is open to the idea, but the country’s vaccination supply should be first increased.
“Dadating po tayo sa punto na ‘yan (We will reach that point) once supplies are stable, once vaccine coverage has improved already, not just here in NCR but also in the other regions, and once our cases are already manageable,” Vergeire explained during a briefing.
“Pero sa ngayon po, sa tingin namin hindi pa natin puwede ipatupad ‘yan (But for now, we think we can’t enforce that yet),” she added.
WHO Philippines country representative Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe also said in a separate conference that even people with complete vaccines can still get Covid-19.
He also noted that the fully vaccinated are “less infective for a shorter period of time.”
“The concept of bubbles for vaccinated people doesn’t actually hold true because you will continue to be at risk of getting infected and if you are infected, you could infect other people,” he said. “So we don’t advocate for vaccine bubbles at this point in time.” Ronald Espartinez