Joey Sarte Salceda

Priority jabs for vulnerable groups amid Delta variant threat urged

August 9, 2021 Ryan Ponce Pacpaco 580 views

HOUSE committee on ways and means chairman and Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda has called on the government to prioritize the vaccination of the single-dose Janssen COVID-19 vaccines on vulnerable groups especially as the country sees a rise of cases that could be due to the spread of the Delta variant.

“Vaccinating with the J&J vaccines is crucial. The two-dose vaccines offer up to 90% protection, but the first dose merely offers around 50%, so while you are not yet fully vaccinated with the second dose, vulnerable populations that have been jabbed with one dose are still 40 percentage points at risk of infection. That’s a possible future driver for high hospitalization rates,” Salceda said in calling the attention of the National Task Force (NTF) on COVID-19 and the National Vaccination Operation Center (NVOC) run by the Department of Health (DoH).

“So we have to prioritize vaccination that is enough with just one dose. This variant is already transmissible within 36 hours if our infectious disease experts are correct. The four week wait between two doses is enough time to have five or six rounds of infection already, because this variant is allegedly transmissible by up to 90%,” Salceda added.

“Many municipalities on the ground have prioritized vaccinating Sinovac and Pfizer, and based on our conversations with local health officers, the consumption rate for Johnson and Johnson is at around 65%. We need to drive that up, and even do it faster than the other vaccines,” Salceda said.

In July 16 and 17, a total of 3.2 million doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccines have arrived in the Philippines. The vaccines were procured from the COVAX facility.

“This variant will spread. That’s inevitable. But if we can reduce hospitalization rates, and if people can defeat this virus at home, by being vaccinated, that will change the game and even our paradigm about lockdowns. The single dose vaccine is an opportunity to do that,” Salceda said.

Salceda also flagged that the Philippine Genome Center is seeking P100 million in funding to expand its genome sequencing operations in Visayas and Mindanao.

“This is one of the most low-cost and essential COVID-19 interventions that the national government can support. I urge President Duterte and the NTF to help the PGC expand its sequencing in the regions,” according to Salceda.

“If we can detect the variants, we can defeat them. But if we cannot, we are dealing with enemies that are deadlier and faster than the alpha variant. The Philippine Genome Center is an essential ingredient to making sure we don’t reach Indonesia levels of infection,” Salceda said.

The Philippines currently has around 74,000 active cases of COVID-19, while Indonesia has 497,824.

“If you adjust that by differences between our population size, we’re halfway there. So, we have to make the necessary adjustments. Genome sequencing is crucial, because if you can detect Delta early after the 36 hour window, you can prevent it. This is unlike the alpha variant, where we had to wait for two weeks before the patients become detectable,” Salceda said.

“But we need to invest in genome sequencing, cut the testing turnaround time shorter, and remove the dribbling of results between regional, provincial, and municipal offices, and really insist on facilities-based quarantine,” Salceda concluded.

AUTHOR PROFILE