Marcos to end state of calamity despite DOH’s recommendation

By Madeleen Saguid, Jianzen Deananeas

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. no longer intends to extend the public health emergency in the country despite the Department of Health’s (DOH) recommendation to keep the country under lockdown, DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said.

In a press conference, Vergeire said the country is ready if the World Health Organization (WHO) declares an end to the global health emergency caused by COVID-19. She added that if the state of public emergency is lifted, the country will remain cautious and vigilant against COVID-19 while imposing the same restrictions.

However, in a later statement, Vergeire said in an interview that Marcos is “very hesitant” to extend the state of calamity because of COVID-19. “The DOH, in actuality, we requested for the extension not because of what we have as a situation, but because of technical reasons,” Vergeire added. But how should the president deliberate choices on economic and pandemic recovery?

Preparing healthcare systems

WHO said in a meeting of its emergency committee last January 27 that the outbreak remains a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), but COVID-19 is already at an inflection point — meaning that the virus SARS-CoV-2 is beginning to reduce its impact and reach due to high levels of immunity.

The latest data from DOH shows that cases in the country have remained low since the end of 2022. But while cases are also starting to be more manageable in the country, many researchers agree with WHO that it does not mean that public health emergency is over.

Even with the state of calamity expiration, the officer-in-charge emphasized that safeguards against COVID-19, need to be maintained to guarantee that the healthcare system will be able to manage if and when new variants enter the country.

Vergeire also said that the country can still push through with purchasing bivalent vaccines.

“We just need to go through the usual process of procurement. This is what we call competitive bidding and we have discussed this with the President already and he told us to go ahead,” she said.

Effects of Marcos’ decision

According to Our World In Data, out of the 174 million vaccine doses given in the Philippines, only 74 million are fully vaccinated, only 68.2% of the Philippines’ population.

Marcos’ inclination to no longer extend the state of public health emergency could also possibly be why the daily average of administered vaccines is fewer.

During the forum hosted by the Makati Business Club last February 3, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said there are 70 million unused vaccines, therefore the Philippines should not rush to obtain bivalent vaccines just yet.

Some researchers also think lifting public health emergencies on a national or global scale could trigger governments to redirect their sources.

According to Mark Woolhouse, an epidemiologist at the University of Edinburgh in the UK, “Declaring the public-health emergency over would give governments and some public-health agencies permission to look away and move on to other things.”

In a recent interview with British medical researcher James Farrar, he warned that there might still be pandemic perils ahead. “I think the overwhelmingly likely scenario is we are in a completely different place and it’s much better… But there may be still surprises in this pandemic,” he said.

The Marcos COVID response plan

Marcos, in 2021, before his election win, promised the “Tawid-Covid, Beyond Covid” program which prioritizes the improvement of the conditions of frontline medical workers through salary increases and benefits. Later in the same year, Marcos in a statement said that “medical research needs more support to fight [the] pandemic.”

However, Marcos spent his first 100 days in the office without a DOH chief, as former Health secretary Francisco Duque III stepped down from his position without a successor. The next month, Marcos appointed Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire as OIC of the DOH, along with other key officials.

The newly elected Marcos promised that the country will not be “caught unprepared, underequipped, and understaffed to fight the next pandemic.” During his first State of the Nation Address (SONA), Marcos again promised the public that there would be no more lockdowns to minimize COVID-19 infection.

One of Marcos’ first COVID initiatives was the signing of Executive Order No. 3, which removes the requirement to wear masks outdoors with the reiteration of the need to comply with the minimum health standards.

However, visible confusion was noted as the DOH’s visual aids, signed by Marcos and released before EO No. 3, reminded the public of the need for protection against COVID-19 by wearing face masks outdoors.