AN IMPORTANT milestone in our fight against COVID-19 is for our vaccination program to achieve herd immunity for our population as soon as possible.
A common definition of herd immunity is that it occurs when approximately 70 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated against the virus. This is when the virus is relatively unlikely to find another host which is unprotected against infection.
In the case of Iloilo province with a target adult population of around 1.4 million, herd immunity should be reached when around one million have been fully vaccinated.
We have a long way to go, therefore, before we reach herd immunity.
Vaccinating the populace needs to be increased if we are to reduce the rate of infection and attendant fatalities.
Improved vaccine availability has been assisted by the recent donation by the United States of an additional five million doses.
President Duterte’s gracious response and his suggestion that he might visit the US to personally thank its government and people is an excellent idea. I hope it is implemented.
Another positive step was made by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. who has expressed support for the recently-enhanced trilateral security partnership between US, the United Kingdom, and Australia (AUKUS).
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Gordon Brown, a former prime minister of the United Kingdom, meanwhile, has drawn attention to the disturbing differences between the level of vaccination in poor, relative to rich countries.
He asserts that the gulf between the vaccine-rich and the vaccine-poor countries has grown so large that less than to percent of adults in low-income countries are fully vaccinated, compared to over 50 percent of adults in most high-income countries.
I should mention that Gordon Brown is now United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education.
Given that the Philippines education system seems to produce inferior, by international standards, educational attainment, it would seem to be a good idea if there were contact between our Department of Education and Mr. Brown as to what can be done to improve matters./PN
