Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 31) Filipinos who have completed their COVID-19 shots still need to wear face masks and face shields to further reduce the risk of transmission, Health Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire said on Monday.
“If you ask me, this is my opinion, I would not recommend it at this point because of all the evidence that we have right now that even though we are vaccinated and fully vaccinated, we can still transmit the infection and we can still be infected,” Vergeire told CNN Philippines’ The Source, referring to doing away with masks and face shieds
Vergeire also said the public must not compare the Philippines’ progress in vaccination and pandemic response with other countries, since there are still a lot of months to go before much of the country’s population can be given COVID-19 shots.
“There is still no sufficient evidence that can say that we can really block transmission although good performance na tayo ngayon sa real data (we are showing a good performance in real date),” she said. “We still like to be very sure so when we implement this, we will not be at risk especially the vulnerable to COVID-19.”
Vergeire said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has created a small working group headed by the Department of Tourism and the Department of Foreign Affairs to discuss the policy on the mandatory wearing of face masks this week.
She added that a group comprised of different medical groups, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Health Department has already recommended the continued use of face shields despite complaints about its supposed inability to prevent transmission.
“Based on their study, although conditional recommendations, they still recommend the face shield plus the face mask with physical distancing. For now, we will retain this policy,” Vergeire said.
“I think it will be beneficial for our population. I think its okay for us to sacrifice a little rather than having difficulty in breathing and youre in the hospital because you got COVID-19,” she added.
On Sunday, the country logged 1,223,627 total COVID-19 cases, with 7,058 new infections. The death toll rose to 20,860 while 1,149,010 have recovered from the disease.
The government has administered over five million doses, with over a million Filipinos who are fully vaccinated, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez said in a radio interview on Sunday. The country aims to reach herd immunity with over 70% of its population vaccinated by yearend.