‘Outbreak of the unvaccinated’

22 September 2021 – Majority of the new Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases reported daily in the city in the past weeks amid the surge are unvaccinated so that city officials said the current situation is turning out to be an “outbreak of the unvaccinated.”

Mayor Benjamin Magalong told department heads in their Management Committee (MANCOM) meeting Sept. 21 that unvaccinated individuals infected without knowing it continue with their daily activities unconscious that they can spread the virus to other unjabbed persons and together can create an outbreak.

He said some of them even work in industries that require exposure to people including those 17 years old below who are still ineligible for vaccination.

The City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit of the City Health Services Office said majority of the patients now occupying hospitals and isolation facilities in the city are individuals who have not been vaccinated.

These patients are mostly the ones who are in severe or critical conditions and are occupying the hospital isolation facilities especially the vulnerable group like senior citizens and persons with comorbidities.

“This is why there is a need to vaccinate our vulnerable groups.  Let us encourage them so that our health care system will not be overwhelmed and so that they will have the chance to live longer, do things with us like having coffee together,” the CESU appealed.

A mathematical computation on vaccine effectiveness in the city showed that unvaccinated persons have 4x more chances of getting COVID-19 than the vaccinated individuals.

It does not mean however that vaccinated person will not get the virus or will not develop symptoms.

“Our vaccines are not perfect but they lessen the chances of developing severe symptoms, hospitalization and death.  There will be breakthrough infections but what is important is that we will not be among those in the hospitals needing oxygen and ventilators to stay alive,” the CESU said. – Aileen P. Refuerzo