NewsDesk @bactiman63

In a follow-up on a recent report where the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the Delta variant (B1617.2) is as contagious as chickenpox, the Philippines Department of Health concurred with the assessment.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the US CDC made a study about common transmissible diseases ( bird flu, Ebola, SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), seasonal flu, polio, measles, and chicken pox) which have the same features as the Delta variant (B1617.2) and found the Delta variant spread or transmissibility is similar with the chicken pox transmissibility.

Vergeire said, “So, with this kind of analysis, yes, we agree to that and there is evidence that the Delta variant is highly transmissible compared to the UK variant which infects only four to five persons. But the Delta variant can infect up to eight persons with the interaction of just one person (like chickenpox)”.

In addition, DOH officials said today that more than 21 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine has been administered-  9,369,625 people have been fully vaccinated while 11,840,504 have received their first dose as of August 2.

DOH data show that among the partially vaccinated individuals, more than 1.59 million are healthcare workers (HCWs), 2.89 million are senior citizens, 3.79 million are persons with comorbidities, 2.67 million are essential workers, 398,966 are outbound overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and family members of HCWs and 482,239 are indigents.

Out of the fully vaccinated individuals, more than 1.38 million are HCWs, 2.69 million are senior citizens, 3.42 million are persons with comorbidities, 1.35 million are essential workers, 198,471 are outbound OFWs and family members of HCWs and 309,024 are indigents.

The country targets to vaccinate 70,851,828 this year to achieve population protection.

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