Although there have been 21 cases of Delta variant at the Philippine General Hospital since June, the contagious variant has not spread to health care workers.
According to Food and Drug Administration Director-General Eric Domingo, of these 21 numbers, 8 were admitted to PGH, 8 were outpatients, while 5 were health care workers.
He said most of the 21 have not been vaccinated or are not complete until the 2nd dose.
The FDA chief also said that the critical and severe case of the delta variant came from their ranks.
“Iyon po sa unvaccinated, kung titignan po natin iyon pong labing anim na hindi health care workers, none of them are fully vaccinated at kung titignan ang category, iisa ang asymptomatic, iyong mild karamihan po dito ay vaccinated and some unvaccinated, pero iyung severe at critical either unvaccinated po ito or partially vaccinated. Talagang po iyong fully vaccinated hindi po nagkakasevere at hindi rin po namamatay,” said Domingo.
Among the health workers of PGH, according to Domingo, the Delta variant did not spread even though it was said to be more contagious compared to other variants of COVID-19.
This is because many are already protected by the vaccine, and they also follow health protocols.
FDA: Vaccines prevent Delta variant spread in PGH
“In PGH kung saan po araw-araw sila po ay eexposed dito, mayroon lamang pong lilima na nagkaroon ng Delta variant at gumaling naman po lahat. Noong nagcontact-tracing po sila doon sa exposure nito, out of 400 na kinontact-trace sa PGH, dadalawa lang na lumabas na positive. Ibig sabihin, it wasn’t as contagious when it came to the PGH dahil unang una po karamihan ng mga tao doon ay vaccinated at sumunod sila sa health protocol,” said Domingo.
As a result, the FDA is convinced that vaccination is the key to preventing the spread of the Delta variant and preventing death, based on the World Health Organization study.
“Nakikita naman po na kahit bumaba ng kaunti iyong sa Delta virus na protection, narereduce ng kaunti against symptomatic disease, however iyong protection against severe disease and death is retained… basta po nabakunahan natin ang ating mga kababayan, we know it will work because vaccination prevents COVID-19 infection. At iyong nagkakainfection, napeprevent din iyong severe illness at pagkamatay,” said FDA chief Domingo.
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