Tuesday, August 31, 2021

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/

328 doses of Covid-19 vaccine wasted due to defects

Posted: 31 Aug 2021 04:43 AM PDT

THE Department of Health (DOH)-Davao reported that a total of 328 doses of Covid-19 vaccines were wasted due to defects.

Dr. Rachel Joy Pasion, DOH-Davao Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit head, said in a virtual presser on Tuesday, August 31, 2021, that out of the 328 wasted vaccines, 42 are AstraZeneca, 237 are Pfizer-BioNTech, 48 are Sinovac, and one Gamaleya Sputnik V.

Pasion said that some of the vaccines have broken vials and other manufacturer defects.

Before administering the vaccines, she said vaccinators must ensure that there are no defects in it and that the vaccinators must also inspect the liquid in the vial prior to dilution. A vaccine must not be used if it is discolored or if other particles are observed.

She said some of the vaccines appeared to have small black particles after they got punctured.

The health official said vaccinators must do the proper technique to ensure that no particles are mixed in the vial.

She also reiterated that they must also do the proper way of doing the vaccination and doing the process of vaccination.

"We have a problem if vaccinators are not trained," Pasion said.

The official, meanwhile, denied reports of vaccines being wasted after these were not used or distributed immediately, thus reaching their expiration.

"Well collated po yan (It is well collated.). Each vial should have this much. So alam natin if meron silang hindi nagamit na vials (So we would know if there are unused vials). What we do would be the provinces should submit an incident report with the CHD [Center for Health Development], and through the [Davao CHD], we will submit that report to the NVOC [National Vaccine Operations Center], so that they can collate kung ilan yung hindi nagamit na mga vials (how many vials were unused), out of the total na pinadala (allocated)," she said.

As of August 30, Davao Region received a total of 2,403,770 doses of Covid-19 vaccines.

Of the total, 1,117,360 are Sinovac, 411,180 are AstraZeneca, 547,560 are Pfizer, 12,000 are Gamaleya, 143,850 are Johnson & Johnson, 121,620 are Moderna, and 50,200 are Sinopharm.

Out of the total received doses, 1,975,158 doses were already distributed.

There have been 868,567 individuals who already got their first dose, while 626,182 individuals are already fully vaccinated (488,732 got their second dose. Some 137,450 were administered with the single-shot Jannsen vaccine.

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Majority of active Covid-19 cases in Davao are unvaccinated

Posted: 31 Aug 2021 04:42 AM PDT

MAJORITY of the active Covid-19 cases in Davao Region are unvaccinated, the Department of Health (DOH)-Davao said.

Dr. Rachel Joy Pasion, DOH-Davao Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit head, said in a virtual presser on Tuesday, August 31, that based on the August 29 data, out of the 11,543 active cases, 95.57 percent have not received a single dose of the Covid-19 vaccines.

About 1.47 percent are those who have incomplete doses or have only received their first dose, and 2.96 percent are those fully vaccinated or have received their two doses of the vaccine.

"Of these fully vaccinated, it is very noteworthy that none of these fully vaccinated are in critical condition," Pasion said during the DOH-Davao virtual presser.

The health official said there had been misconceptions that a fully vaccinated person will not be infected with the Sars-CoV-2, the virus causing the Covid-19.

"'Yun ang pangako ng ating mga bakuna. Hindi sa hindi tayo magkaka-Covid-19 100 percent pag nabakunahan tayo. It is almost a hundred percent sure that it will not fail as if magkaka-Covid po tayo eh hindi tayo magiging critical or to the point na mag-iintubate po sa atin (When you are fully vaccinated, it does not mean you will not get the Covid-19 but the vaccine will protect you from being in critical condition or being intubated)," she said.

DOH also said in its frequently asked questions that "no vaccine provides 100 percent protection from Covid-19."

"It typically takes a few weeks for the body to build immunity after vaccination. That means it is possible a person could be infected with the virus that causes Covid-19 just before or just after vaccination and still get sick because the vaccine has not had enough time to provide protection," DOH said.

In addition, the health department also said efficacy is measured not only by a vaccine's ability to prevent infection, but also in its prevention of severe forms of the disease and of forward transmission.

While a vaccinated person may not be completely prevented from getting infected, he or she will still have a reduced risk of getting severe forms of Covid-19.

"If more people have this reduced risk, then we can more effectively reduce transmission," DOH said.

Philippine College of Physicians-Southern Mindanao Chapter President Dr. Kathryn Uy Roa said in a separate virtual presser that certain groups of individuals can benefit if the rest of the community will be vaccinated.

These include dialysis patients, transplant patients, cancer patients, eldery, children, and pregnant women.

"Ang best strategy karon kung naa tay kauban sa balay na dili pa mabakunahan, kaning mga batan-on or kanang mga bedridden nga mga edaran nga dili pa mabakunahan (The best strategy we can do for now is that if we have household members who are stil not allowed to be vaccinated, these include minors or those bedridden elders) is to form a 'cocoon'. Ang tanang adults nga naa sa balay dapat magpabakuna para maprotektahan tong mga dili pa mabakunahan (The adults in the house should have themselves vaccinated to protect those who have not yet been vaccinated)," Roa said.

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DOH-Davao: 8 of 9 Delta cases in Davao Occidental joined ‘sabong’

Posted: 31 Aug 2021 04:39 AM PDT

EIGHT of nine Covid-19 Delta variant-positive individuals from Sta. Maria, Davao Occidental had a history of attending or participating in sabong (cockfighting) activities, the Department of Health (DOH)-Davao revealed.

"There's a clustering of cases with, 'yung aming na-verify (based on our verified data, it) would be eight coming from sabong," Dr. Rachel Joy Pasion, DOH-Davao Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit head, said in a virtual presser on Tuesday, August 31, 2021.

DOH-Davao reported on Sunday, August 29, 2021, that 22 new Covid-19 Delta cases were detected in Davao Region.

The 22 additional cases in the region were among the 516 additional Delta cases in the country reported by the DOH on Sunday, August 29, 2021.

Based on the breakdown, Sta. Maria has the most detected Delta cases with nine, followed by Mati City in Davao Oriental and Davao City with four cases each, then Digos City in Davao del Sur with three, and Island Garden City of Samal (Igacos) in Davao del Norte and Magsaysay in Davao del Sur with one each.

SunStar Davao reached out to Dr. Doreen Lolette Arciaga, incident commander for Covid-19 Response in Sta. Maria, Davao Occidental, for updates in the recent Delta cases in the municipality, but she has yet to respond.

Arciaga, in a previous interview, said the area was attributed to the surge of cases in the province and it was due to mass gatherings, including sabong and gambling activities.

The health official said most patients violated various health protocols based on their contact tracing history.

"There are unreported gatherings such as online sabong, talpakan... (cockfighting), and rampant din ang sugal na patago (discreet gambling activities are rampant)," she said during the DOH-Davao virtual presser on August 23.

While she did not provide the figure, Arciaga said a majority of their current active cases are participants of the online sabong.

Sta. Maria is currently under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) until August 31, where mass gatherings are prohibited, total liquor ban and curfew, which starts from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m., are implemented, and only essential transactions are allowed.

Arciaga said in a text message that they are intensifying their case management by means of aggressive contact tracing and swabbing, isolation of positive cases and completion of quarantine for negative close contacts.

"The protocol is for reisolation and reswab ang [Delta] cases and review of their timeline of events," she said.

She added the current cases are already isolated and are waiting to be swabbed again.

Arciaga has yet to respond regarding Pasion's statement.

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UP-Min Genome Center targets to start genome sequencing in November

Posted: 31 Aug 2021 04:38 AM PDT

THE University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC) satellite facility in UP-Mindanao (UP-Min) is expected to conduct whole-genome sequencing (WGS) to detect Covid-19 variants before the end of the year.

Dr. Rachel Joy Pasion, DOH-Davao Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit head, said in a virtual presser on Tuesday, August 31, 2021, that the UP-Min PGC is targeted to operate by November this year.

Based on their initial meetings, Pasion said the operation of UP-Min PGC is still waiting for funding for the operation of the facility.

"It needs a lot of funds. Depende sa funding na maibababa sa atin ditto sa region kasi 'yun lang ang hinihintay natin (This will depend on the funding that will be given to the region, which we are currently awaiting). Then next, we'll do the planning because depending on the fund that they will be giving us, 'yun rin po ang pwede natin maibigay sa (this will be our fund allocation to) UP Mindanao," the health official said during the DOH-Davao virtual presser.

The funding, she said, would include human resources and equipment for WGS.

She said genome sequencing is a tedious process, which requires manpower.

Pasion did not specify the exact amount, but the operation of the satellite facility would require millions of pesos.

Aside from UP-Min, Pasion said they are also eyeing Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) as a satellite area for WGS.

Dr. Lyre Murao, PGC Mindanao program director and professor of virology at UP Mindanao, said in a previous presser that they expect a turnaround time of one to two weeks per batch of samples that will be processed for WGS.

Samples sent to the PGC in UP Diliman from Mindanao had a month-long turnaround.

PGC Mindanao targets to gather samples from all six regions of Mindanao and, in fact, has samples already for processing.

DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a press conference Friday, August 27, that the UP-PGC satellite facilities in the Visayas and Mindanao will soon be able to conduct WGS with the approval of a P295.7-million budget for their operations.

Vergeire said this will expand the UP-PGC's capacity to conduct genome sequencing.

At present, the UP-PGC is capable of sequencing approximately 750 samples a week. When the Visayas and Mindanao facilities become fully operational, each will be able to sequence 350 samples a week while the PGC Diliman will double its output to 1,500 samples, for a total of 2,200 samples a week.

Vergeire said logistical challenges have limited the capability of DOH regional units in the Visayas and Mindanao to regularly send samples for sequencing in the UP-PGC in Diliman, Quezon City.

"So this expansion will definitely help us sequence more samples in the VisMin area," Vergeire said. PGC Visayas is located within the UP Visayas campus in Miagao, Iloilo while PGC-Mindanao is located within UP Mindanao in Davao City.

Strengthening the UP-PGC's biosurveillance capacity will enhance not only the government's coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) response, but also the capability to address other disease outbreaks in the future, she added.

Aside from detecting variants of Sars-CoV-2, genomic biosurveillance plays a big role in determining causes of outbreaks, tracking how a virus is transmitted, and complementing disease surveillance in guiding the overall public health response beyond the Covid-19 pandemic.

Vergeire reiterated that whole-genome sequencing is not being used as a point of care intervention.

"Local government units don't need to wait for sequencing results before undertaking Covid-19 response measures. Case management protocols should be implemented as soon as an individual test positive," she said. (With reports from SunStar Philippines)

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