DepEd encourages Cebu teachers to get vaccinated versus COVID-19

CEBU, Philippines —  The Department of Education (Dep-Ed) Cebu Province is encouraging its teachers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 once the vaccine is available to them, especially with DepEd preparing for the possibility of limited face-to-face classes in the coming months.

While medical experts have pushed for every Filipino to get vaccinated, Dr. Marilyn Andales, DepEd Cebu Province School Division Superintendent, said the best that DepEd can do is encourage teachers as respect to their individual rights.

"Dili man sila pugson... encouraged lang kay naa man pod nay right," Andales said.

She said teachers in the province have mixed reactions about the vaccine and there are those who are hesitant to get vaccinated.

"Naa pud, natural feelings labi na naa kay existing nga mga sakit… kuan sila, apprehensive what might be the effect kung naa, unya naa ko ani nga sakit… Pero naa po’y isog naa pod uban ganahan," Andales told reporters at the sidelines of the Enhanced Countryside Development (ECD) program launched by the Cebu Provincial Government in Pinamunganan town, on March 5.

With the national government looking at easing more restrictions as the vaccination program rolls out, Andales said they have identified 12 public schools in different local government units where limited face-to-face classes may be piloted.

The list, though, is still being finalized, as there are schools that have backed out after their LGU recorded cases recently.

"Sa ilang place sauna, wala to sila, COVID-free, but because nisulat sila nga increasing ilahang COVID cases, so ni-decline sila to be a pilot school sa limited face to face," Andales said.

She said DepEd is drafting the guidelines in the implementation of the face-to-face classes so that transition will be easier once President Rodrigo Duterte gives the go signal.

More AstraZeneca

Meanwhile, more doses of the COVID-19 shot developed by British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca with the University of Oxford, will arrive in the Philippines tonight, said vaccine czar Carlito Galvez said.

Galvez said 38,400 doses of the jab would arrive at around 7 p.m. on board a commercial plane.

These doses form part of the World Health Organization-led COVAX Facility’s pledge to initially deliver 525,600 doses to the Philippines as part of its commitment to give the country a total of 4.5 million doses of the shot by May.

Malacañang announced initially that all 525,600 doses would arrive on March 1, only for this to be delayed to March 4 due to supply and logistical problems, which resulted in only 487,200 doses landing in the country.

Speaking to health workers at the Ospital ng Parañaque, Galvez said all 525,600 doses did not arrive at the same time because a commercial plane was used for its delivery.

The Philippines expects to receive up to 9.2 million doses of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine this year through the COVAX facility, which ensures that developing countries get access to the coveted drug.

The doses from the COVAX facility is on top of the 17 million procured by the national government, local governments and the private sector, which are expected to arrive later this year.

AstraZeneca’s shot, which has secured emergency use approval from the Food and Drug Administration, is found to be 70 percent effective on average and only need to be stored at standard fridge temperatures of 2°C.

A member of the private research firm OCTA warned, however, that the shot’s efficacy could decrease to just 10 percent against the new coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa — 58 cases of which have already been detected in the Philippines.

The health department sought to soothe those fears, saying that the studies cited only used a small sample of individuals, although it did say that the variant from South Africa, known as B.1.351, “may have an impact on vaccine efficacy.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) stands by the use of AstraZeneca vaccine after a preliminary study suggested the jab offered less protection against B.1.351.

Moderna

Aside from the AstraZeneca vaccine, about 20 million doses from US biotechnology company Moderna are expected by the end of May or early June, Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said Saturday.

The Moderna vaccine has, so far, shown a 94 percent efficacy, higher than either that of Sinovac or AstraZeneca which arrived in the past week.

At a Laging Handa briefing, Romualdez said the Philippines is also likely to get 117,000 doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine from the COVAX Facility, initiated by WHO.

American company Johnson and Johnson has also allocated six million of its COVID-19 vaccine to the Philippines, he added.

Overall, the Philippines is expected to receive over 40 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from the US and the United Kingdom this year, Romualdez and British Ambassador Daniel Pruce said in separate interviews.- Philstar.com, JMO (FREEMAN)