As the COVID-19 case continues to rise in the country, the Philippine Medical Association is alarmed that the situation may become worse again especially since some doctors are getting sick again.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque himself said that the increase in COVID-19 cases in some areas is worrying.
For the secretary, even though vaccines have arrived and are coming, the public cannot be complacent.
“Itong ating pagsunod sa mga minimum public health standards napakamahalaga. Hindi komo nabalitaan natin na may dumarating na bakuna, ‘yung dumarating na bakuna kakaunti ho ito,” he said.
According to the latest Department of Health, more than 114,000 people have been vaccinated in the Philippines.
Of those vaccinated, nearly 1,000 experienced so-called adverse events.
“The most common adverse events that we have noted would be muscle pain, pain on the site of injection, fever. May iba na tumaas ang presyon, rashes. Usual lang po ‘yan, hindi dapat ikatakot,” said Health spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire.
Continuous COVID-19 surge alarms experts, officials
Experts are now warning of extreme caution, especially since the Philippine Genome Center continues to record new variants or mutations of the virus.
In a study by various experts in the country, it was said that there is evidence of the existence of a new variant of SARS-CoV2 in the Philippines, but it still needs thorough investigation.
This was seen in 33 samples collected in Central Visayas.
In a Facebook post by Dr. Edsel Salvana who is a member of the DOH technical advisory group, he said that there is a Philippine variant named P.3. It can be considered the child of the Brazilian lineage COVID-19 variant B1128.
The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) fears that the situation of health workers may worsen where many would fall ill and some could even die.
“We’re seeing right now a lot of our physicians are getting reinfection again. The problem is parang we’re back from where we started from. Even those not in the frontlines are also getting sick… Let’s be cautious of what we do now, let’s follow the protocols,” said Dr. Oscar Tinio ng PMA.