ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews / 16 Feb) – Classes in all levels may likely go face-to-face this coming August, according to Secretary Carlito Galvez, chief implementer of the National Inter-Agency Task Force Against COVID-19 (NIATF).
He quoted Education Secretary Leonor Briones, in her report to the NIATF, that there has been no contamination from among the school children who have joined the pilot face-to-face classes.
“So, for as long as the health protocols are followed, social distance spacing, and the ventilation in classrooms is fixed ahead, the classes may start in the new normal,” he said.
“Definitely, [wearing of face] masks will be retained. Second, vaccination will be massive. Third, attend to ventilation,” Galvez he added.
He said dining areas will have to be reengineered, too, preferably al fresco so there is lesser chances of catching the virus.
Galvez said they have been coordinating with the Department of Education through Briones and with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) through Chairman J. Prospero de Vera III on the planned face-to-face classes.
He stressed that the national government is aiming such that by the start of classes in August, vaccination of all pupils, students, personnel and teachers will be almost 100 percent.
He pointed out that if everybody is vaccinated, then the risk is low.
Galvez visited vaccination sites here where children aged 5 to 11 were getting their jabs. He spoke with the children, asking them how they felt, and why they were there for the vaccination.
He emphasized the need to have children aged 5 to 11 to be vaccinated so they may attend face-to-face classes by August.
“The turnaround of vaccination in Zamboanga City is fast,” he noted, as local health officials and personnel shared with him that with the registration turnout, all vaccine supply will be out in two days’ time.
The NIATF chief implementer said that almost 10 regions already have more than 70 percent of the population getting two doses.
He congratulated Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco for having 80 percent of the city’s population already vaccinated and Dr. Joshua Brillantes, director of the Department of Health – Region IX, for the 70-percent vaccination rate in the region.
But Galvez expressed concern over the very low vaccination rate in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Galvez cited the need for the Bangsamoro regional government to focus on vaccination of senior citizens as their immune system is very low. “Most of those who died are … 50 years old and older,” he said.
“Based on data, all who died, and all who had severe cases and what we consider as cases in hospitalization, most were not vaccinated,” he pointed out. (Frencie Carreon / MindaNews)