Herd Immunity

Herd immunity

January 18, 2022 People's Tonight 356 views

GOVERNMENT authorities deserve the support of all sectors of Philippine society as they exert their best efforts to attain “herd or population immunity.”

This, they will do by coming up with various multi-pronged measures and initiatives aimed at vaccinating the more 110 million Filipinos, including the senior citizens.

“Herd immunity” is resistance to the spread of an infectious disease.The level of vaccination needed to achieve it varies by disease, but ranges from 83 to 94 percent.

We cannot overemphasize the importance of achieving “herd immunity” considering the emergence of a new COVID-19 variant “omicron,” which is more infectious than “delta.”

The new measures being implemented in Metropolitan Manila and other areas under Alert Level 3 status since yesterday include the “no vaccination, no ride policy.”

Under the policy, only fully-vaccinated individuals, with vaccination cards, are allowed aboard public utility vehicles (PUVs) to protect the unvaccinated against COVID-19.

Reports said that 85 percent of COVID-19 patients at intensive care units (ICUs) of hospitals are unvaccinated individuals.

We can concede, however, that there are also fully vaccinated people getting sick of the coronavirus disease or COVID-19.

Like other well-meaning Filipinos, we agree with concerned government authorities and medical experts that the best weapon against the dreaded virus is vaccination.

We are all for this as the beleaguered Filipino people prepare for the upcoming presidential, congressional, regional and local elections on May 9 (Monday).

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