Marcos advised DOH against redefining ‘fully vaccinated’ persons —Vergeire

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has advised against coming up with a new definition of who may be considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19, Department of Health officer in charge Dr. Ma. Rosario Vergeire said on Tuesday.

At a press briefing, Vergeire said the DOH proposed that the term "fully vaccinated" refer to those who had received their the first two doses, and their first booster shot of COVID-19 vaccines.

At present, fully vaccinated only referred to those who had received the primary series of two doses.

“We have already recommended this to the President, and the President advised us na huwag muna because it’s going to cause more confusion, especially now that marami na tayong polisiyang pinapalabas,” Vergeire said.

(The President advised us not to redefine it yet as it's going to cause more confusion, especially now that we are already releasing many policies.)

“Hindi muna natin pupuntahan ‘yung redefinition. Pinag-aaralan pa rin pong maigi 'yan (We will not redefine it yet as it is still being studied carefully)," she added.

"One thing I can tell you would be whether it is redefined or not, as long as we will implement in a whole of society approach, I think we can be able to improve this coverage in the coming months,” Vergeire said.

Vergeire agreed with the notion that there was a confusion stemming from what the meaning of “fully vaccinated” really is, considering that the government has been campaigning to ramp up the booster uptake in the country.

Based on the Executive Order No. 3 signed by Marcos which allows the voluntary use of face masks in outdoor settings, “not fully vaccinated individuals, senior citizens, and immunocompromised individuals are highly encouraged to wear their masks and physical distancing will be observed at all times.”

Based on the DOH’s national COVID-19 vaccination dashboard, 72.7 million Filipinos are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while 18.5 million have received their booster shots.

Instead of redefining the term fully vaccinated, Vergeire said that Marcos instructed the DOH to intensify its efforts to improve the COVID-19 vaccination on the ground by implementing an incentive and disincentive scheme.

“Ang isa sa hiling namin sa iba’t ibang ahensya ng gobyerno ay tulungan niyo kami. Magpatupad kayo ng mga polisiya that will help our vaccination efforts," Marcos said.

"This will include interventions for incentives and interventions for disincentives,” she added.

(One of our requests to various government agencies is for them to help us by implementing policies that will help our vaccination efforts.) —NB, GMA News