‘Another seeming miscalculation is President Duterte’s order to restrict the movements of those who are unvaccinated. This policy cannot stand on solid ground not because of human rights issues but because of scientific reasons.’
AFTER two years of the pandemic, the medical and scientific community has somehow accumulated some knowledge about the coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19, including its known variants, among them Delta and Omicron.
Hard questions still crop up from time to time, especially when new variants such as the overly active Omicron barge into the scene. The beauty of this is that science is evolving, and true science is not afraid to revise its postulates if confronted with the truth.
Science became the catalyst of human progress because it welcomed the contrary position. It is not afraid of iconoclasts, nor of intellectual debate. It is a healthy addition to our trove of knowledge when, for instance, the claim of Dominican Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, a microbiologist affiliated with OCTA Research, that Omicron may be the variant that will end COVID-19 because it will engender massive immunity for the population, is right away debunked by Dr. Edsel Salvana who said a virus will never be a vaccine. The clash of arguments, all based on scientific method, should clear the way for a better understanding of the pandemic.
It is against this backdrop that the position of Dean Hudson Pelayo of the FAME Leaders Academy (FLA), backed by Dr. Rafael R. Castillo of Manila Doctors Hospital, on the current mass vaccination in Metro Manila is worth studying. They opposed the continuing mass vaccination/boostering in the midst of an outbreak which is now a government priority.
With a 44% positivity rate, that means almost every other individual in a crowd seeking vaccination may carry the virus, and thus spread it to others in the queue. It will not prevent the current surge since the antibodies will be formed two weeks after vaccination. Meanwhile, it is likely that they will be exposed to the virus at the vaccination center, and there is a strong possibility that they will develop the disease instead of preventing it.
Foreign experts have also established that Omicron can escape vaccine immunity, as shown by increased breakthrough rates in those who received full vaccination or booster shots in Israel and the United Kingdom.
Another seeming miscalculation is President Duterte’s order to restrict the movements of those who are unvaccinated. This policy cannot stand on solid ground not because of human rights issues but because of scientific reasons. Multiple studies have already shown that the viral loads in both the fully vaccinated and the unvaccinated are “similar or equivalent” suggesting that their potential to infect others is of similar risk.
In the fight against the virus, various experts and plain observers have weighed in on the effort, all in the spirit of trying to help the government in fighting the pandemic and saving as many Filipino lives. The Inter-Agency Task Force and the national government as a whole should listen and vet these ideas and suggestions, to justify their claim that their policies are science-driven.
