Concepcion: Encouraging boosters a challenge

MANILA, Philippines — As Filipinos continue learning to live with the COVID-19 virus, encouraging more booster vaccinations is challenging, according to Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion.

“While we will continue to encourage our citizens to take the boosters, it still is a challenge,” Concepcion said in a statement yesterday.

Based on data from the National COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard, vaccination rates hardly moved in the past month, with only 18.1 million booster vaccinations administered despite the 71.5 million people who are eligible for it.

OCTA Research fellow Nicanor Austriaco expressed belief that it will be incorrect to dismiss low booster rates as mere complacency.

“The Filipino people appear to have moved beyond vaccines,” Austriaco said, noting that people are now weighing how much risk is acceptable to them.

“They see people around them with mild illness, and they appear to have concluded that the cost of getting a booster is greater than the risk of getting sick with mild Omicron COVID-19” he added.

Meanwhile, Concepcion said he observed that the preferred use of antigen testing may also be contributing to the underreporting of cases.

“I believe more people are infected, but most are not reporting the cases anymore since antigen testing is what is used more often,” he added.

This may also be contributing to the low booster uptake because those who are infected do not bother to take boosters anymore, according to Concepcion.

“Omicron will act as a booster for those who get it,” Austriaco said, expressing belief that natural infection is significantly better than the Omicron booster that is being rolled out in the United States because there is significant data that showed that natural immunity is more robust than vaccine immunity.

“We should still try to avoid illness when we can. Get a booster!” he added.

Go Negosyo pointed out that hybrid immunity, or immunity from both vaccination and infection has been cited as one of the reasons for the relatively low incidences of COVID-19 deaths compared to this time last year, when as many as 2,170 deaths were reported within a single week.

The non-profit group cited data from the Department of Health (DOH)’s COVID-19 tracker that reported 108 deaths from Aug. 18 to 24.

As for easing outdoor masking mandates, Concepcion said he supports Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos’ willingness to see how Cebu City will fare in its attempt to lift outdoor masking requirements.

“I feel outdoor masking should be optional. It allows Filipinos to manage their risks,” Concepcion added.

The former Palace entrepreneurship adviser revealed he is now looking at mitigation as a strategy, and expressed belief that stocking up on antiviral pills like molnupiravir and paxlovid will be more practical.

“People are starting to get together, to go out, return to normal activities, and some of them will get infected,” he said.

Moreover, he emphasized that the country could not afford vaccination mandates as the focus has now shifted to nursing the economy back to health.

“The economy at this time is the biggest priority, with the rising prices and interest rates our consumers and MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) will be affected. Consumer spending cannot wane because our GDP (gross domestic product) will be affected,” he said.

For Austriaco, there must be a deadline for people to avail themselves of the free vaccines, possibly motivating them to be get booster shots immediately.

At the same time, he also suggested that it might be time to remove mandatory masking for outdoor situations.

“Only have them on public transportation and health care facilities. Yes, this will allow some Omicron spread, but in light of the decision of many Filipinos not to get boosted, it is better to allow for Omicron illness among those whose immunity is waning now to strengthen population immunity rather than to face a possible deadlier variant in six months that could kill more people,” he said.

Concepcion said other strategies will depend on whether or not President Marcos follows through with his plan to extend the state of public health emergency until the end of the year.

“This will affect how the new vaccines will be purchased. If the manufacturers can secure Certificates of Product Registration for their vaccines and sell these through drug stores or we continue with an emergency use authorization, all this must be cleared soon once the President makes his decision,” he added.