A HOUSE leader on Monday filed a bill seeking mandatory COVID-19 vaccination in the Philippines to all those determined by the Department of Health to get the jab in order to help end the pandemic.

Cavite Rep. Elpidio “Pidi” Barzaga, Jr., president of the National Unity Party (NUP), said he filed House Bill (HB) 9252 to attain herd immunity, adding his proposal is in pursuant to the General Welfare clause of the Constitution where “the State is mandated to make rules and regulations to protect the lives of the majority of its citizens. A person who is not vaccinated is a risk to the lives of others and to the general community.”

“As legislators we have a legal responsibility to pass a law to further prevent the introduction, transmission, and spread of COVID-19 and address our present crisis. Mass vaccination has the power to end the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, reduce the virus to a manageable risk and let normal life resume,” Barzaga, a veteran CPA-lawyer by profession and chairman of the House committee on natural resources, explained.

“In terms of international travel, our fully vaccinated citizens will now be allowed to countries that are open to travelers who became fully vaccinated,” Barzaga said.

VACCINE LAW IS NOTHING NEW

Barzaga recalled that a vaccination law is nothing new and has been around ever since vaccines were invented to eradicate a disease. He cited the smallpox law that was enacted in England, Wales and the United States of America to eradicate smallpox.

“In the United States, all states, the District of Columbia, and territories have vaccination requirements for children attending childcare facilities and schools. While in California, the state permits employer-mandated COVID-19 vaccination policies and they intend to require COVID-19 vaccinations for all students, faculty and staff on University of California and California State University campuses this fall. Students or staff who fails to comply with the mandate will be barred from in-person access to campus programs and facilities, including campus housing, the system said. Other U.S. colleges and universities have said they plan to make vaccination mandatory,” Barzaga said.

“In universities including Rutgers, Brown, Cornell and Northeastern recently told students they must get vaccinated before returning to campus next fall. They hope to achieve herd immunity on campus, which they say would allow them to loosen spacing restrictions in classrooms and dorms. Although, some universities are apprehensive in making vaccination mandatory, Northeastern and other colleges requiring shots believe they’re on solid legal ground. It’s not unusual for colleges to require students to be vaccinated for other types of diseases, and a California court last year upheld a flu shot requirement at the University of California system,” he said.

In the US landmark case of Jacobson v. Massachusetts, Barzaga said Justice John Marshall Harlan acknowledged the fundamental importance of personal freedom, but also recognized that “the rights of the individual in respect of his liberty may at times, under the pressure of great dangers, be subjected to such restraint, to be enforced by reasonable regulations, as the safety of the general public may demand.”

The Jacobson decision established what became known as the “reasonableness” test where the government had the authority to pass laws that restricted individual liberty, if those restrictions—including the punishment for violating them—were found by the Court to be a reasonable means for achieving a public good, Barzaga said.

VACCINATION FOR ALL FILIPINOS IS A MUST

“A COVID-19 vaccine will keep us from getting COVID 19 or at the very least helps keep us from getting seriously ill if we do get COVID-19. Thus, a person who is fully vaccinated, can start doing more things that he stopped doing because of the pandemic,” Barzaga said.

“Little do we realize that getting vaccinated protects us and the people around us, particularly people who are at an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19,” Barzaga said.

Barzaga said several studies have been conducted and found that there is a significant decrease in the rates of infection and the severity of symptoms among vaccinated populations.

In the United Kingdom, Barzaga cited Sarah Walker, Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology at Oxford and Chief Investigator on the Office for National Statistics COVID-19 Infection Survey, who said that Britain had ‘moved from a pandemic to an endemic situation’ where the virus is circulating at a low, largely controllable level in the community.’

“The UK scenario is the first large real-world study of the impact of vaccination on the general population, researchers found that the rollout is having a major impact on cutting both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases,” Barzaga said.

Barzaga narrated that the new research, based on throat swabs from 373,402 people between December 1 last year and April 3, found three weeks after one dose of either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca jab, symptomatic infections fell by 74 per cent and infections without symptoms by 57 per cent. By two doses, asymptomatic infections were down 70 per cent and symptomatic by 90 per cent, Barzaga said.

“It comes as infections continue to fall in Britain, dropping seven per cent in a week, despite the reopening of schools and shops, infections continue to decrease in the UK. Deaths have also fallen by 26 per cent and admissions by 19 per cent over the last seven days,” he said.

The Cavite House leader said a mandatory mass wide COVID-19 Vaccination Program is imperative to solve the present COVID-19 pandemic and achieve herd immunity or population immunity.

“In order to safely achieve herd immunity against COVID-19, a substantial proportion of a population would need to be vaccinated. This would lower the overall amount of virus able to spread in the whole population. One of the aims with working towards herd immunity is to keep vulnerable groups who cannot get vaccinated especially those who due to health conditions become safe and protected from the COVID-19 virus,” Barzaga pointed out.

Unfortunately, Barzaga lamented there is still no science or data available as to the percentage of people who need to be immune in order to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19.

In parts of United States particularly in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut, Barzaga said there appears to be a progression towards herd immunity. Despite reopening and rise of more contagious variants, COVID-19 cases are beginning to plummet.

“According to Dr. Kavita Patel, a Brookings Institution health scholar, I do think this pattern is significant, and the leading factor is the combination of natural immunity from infection and vaccine-induced immunity. Between the two, you’re starting to cover the majority of the population in these states. We’re progressing toward herd immunity kind of by hook or crook,” Barzaga said quoting Patel.

He called on his colleagues to pass the measure on mass COVID-19 vaccination program in the Philippines.

“This can only be achieved by enacting legislation to mandate and promote COVID-19 vaccination, address vaccine hesitancy and instill public confidence in the personal, family and community benefits of immunization. It will be tragic if we have safe and effective vaccines available but people refuse to take them,” Barzaga said.

“Corollary to the passing of the present bill, we also need to increase vaccine confidence and improve the public’s understanding of how it can help control the spread of COVID-19 in their families and communities through a mass information campaign using print, radio, TV and social media,” Barzaga added.