DOH studying but not yet considering letting vaccinated people stop wearing masks

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health said Friday it is not yet considering easing the country’s masking rules with only a little over one million people fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The agency is studying a recommendation to allow those who have completed inoculation to stop wearing face masks, its spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire said.

“Kung sa US sila ay nagkaroon na ng polisiya na pwede nang hindi mag-mask pag nasa labas, tayo po rito hindi pa rin ‘yan ma-consider kasi ‘yung rate ng vaccination natin di naman pareho sa Estados Unidos,” Vergeire said in a briefing.

(If in the US, they have this policy that people can go maskless outside, we, in the country, cannot yet consider that because our rate of vaccination is not the same as theirs.)

At least 132 million Americans have completed a vaccination regimen, according to the Our World in Data. The figure represents 40.2% of the population in US.

Meanwhile, in the Philippines, only 1.02 million people, or 0.94% of the country’s roughly 110 million population, have been fully vaccinated.

Vergeire also said there are areas in the Philippines where cases are increasing.

But while some US states loosened masking rules, others took a more cautious approach.

Studying recommendation

Vergeire said medical experts and the government’s task force on pandemic response will look into the recommendation that the vaccinated can ditch face masks.

“We are studying this recommendation to see if we can also apply this in specific bubbles,” she said.

The health official stressed there are other factors that must be considered aside from COVID-19 vaccination like healthcare utilization.

The World Health Organization said people should wear face masks in areas where the virus is spreading even after they receive COVID-19 jabs. It said “vaccines are life-saving but on their own, they are not enough.”

The Philippines, which has one of the worst outbreaks in Southeast Asia, has so far reported 1.2 million coronavirus infections, including 20,556 deaths. — with report from Agence France-Presse