PBBM, inaprubahan ang pagbawi sa public health emergency status ng Pinas

“APPROVED IN PRINCIPLE ” ang ginawa ni Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos Jr., sa ginawang pagbawi sa public health emergency status ng Pilipinas.

“Yes, actually, this was one of his first instructions to me, to really get out of the COVID pandemic,” ayon kay Herbosa sa  briefing sa Malakanyang nang tanungin kung masigasig ang Pangulo na bawiin ang health emergency.

At nang tanungin kung magpapalabas ang Pangulo ng executive order ukol dito, sinabi ni Herbosa na hinihintay pa niya ang Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) resolution mula sa kanyang predecessor.

“So, if that is not yet signed, I will follow it up with a reiteration. Because I think, at that time, they were still hesitant because there was still the problem of how we get the bivalent if we lift it. But now, I think that obstacle is gone, kasi may CPR (certificate of product registration) na tayo and everything,” ani Herbosa.

“What happens now,  is that the risk is passed on to individuals especially after the World Health Organization (WHO) removed COVID-19 from the list of public health emergencies of international concern,” dagdag na wika nito sabay sbaing “WHO now considers COVID-19 as one of the diseases and even the doctors now also consider it as just one of the respiratory illnesses.”

“There is still the risk of death for vulnerable people which is the elderly and those with medical conditions, immunocompromised. But the number of deaths has really declined,” lahad pa ni Herbosa.

Bagama’t inirekomenda na ng  IATF  na bawiin ang nasabing status, kailangan pa rin na pag-aralang mabuti  ng  Office of the President (OP) ang ilan na  ibang konsiderasyon gaya ng opisyal na pagbawi sa status, kabilang na ang   pagiging epektibo ng Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) para makuha ang bivalents.

“But with Pfizer being given a CPR by the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the bivalent vaccines are now going to be commercially available,” ayon sa Kalihim sabay sabing  “There is delay, however, as Pfizer is looking for the retailers that have the minus 7-degree freezers required for storage.”

“I don’t know how Pfizer will do this but, eventually, it will require a physician’s prescription and then you can purchase it from them and you can also get access to bivalent vaccines,” ayon kay Herbosa.

“But for the poor, we’re still negotiating with COVAX for two million doses so that we can still be able to give to those who cannot afford to buy the bivalent,” dagdag na wika nito.

Ukol naman sa  monovalent vaccines na nauna nang  binigyan ng EUA, sinabi ni  Herbosa na maaari pang mamahagi ang gobyerno  ng mga ito sa pubiko ng libre

at nananatiling balido bilang  booster doses bagama’t “most of the demand now is the bivalent vaccines” dahil sa kanilang efficacy o pagiging epektibo laban sa pinakabagong COVID variants. (Daris Jose)