Amid vaccine hesitancy among Filipinos, experts remind the public that failure to be vaccinated might lead to severe conditions once they contract COVID-19. The threat is even greater with new mutations of the virus like the Delta Variant.
The Delta Variant of COVID-19 is one of the dominant variants originating from India that started on October 2020. The variant is said to be four times more infectious and more transmissible than the original variant from Wuhan, China. This puts those at risk to be more susceptible to hospitalization and reportedly to have more severe symptoms should they contract the virus.
Last May 11, 2021, the variant became a concern by the World Health Organization for its transmissibility. As of June 22, 2021, 92 countries recorded having COVID-19 cases due to the Delta Variant.
In terms of the effectivity of the vaccines against the Delta Variant, the Food and Drug Administration chief Eric Domingo assured Filipinos that vaccines will be effective in protecting people against the Delta Variant.
Domingo said Pfizer vaccines are 88% effective against the Delta strain while the AstraZeneca vaccine has a 60% efficacy rate against it.
“There’s a decreasing efficacy as we get more mutations, but hindi naman po completely nawawala ang bisa ng bakuna. It’s still a useful vaccine,” he said while on a meeting with President Duterte.
As of June 22, the Philippines has recorded a total of 17 cases of the Delta Variant from returning overseas Filipino workers. Although there are no reports of community transmission so far.