The Department of Health (DOH) has reiterated that the vaccination remains the “best defense” against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), dismissing a suggestion made by an OCTA Research member that the Omicron variant may operate as a natural vaccine.
DOH’s latest statement alludes to OCTA Research Fellow Fr. Nicanor Austriaco’s pronouncements last Thursday that the Omicron variant can operate as a “natural vaccine” since it fights to infiltrate the lungs with 70 times more virus, and that “the symptoms would likely look milder.”
Individuals who survive the Omicron version will develop antibodies that may give protection against it and other variations such as Delta, Gamma, Beta, Alpha, and D614G, according to Austriaco.
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As a result, Austriaco declared, population protection is achieved and the pandemic will be over.
Meanwhile, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire stated that even mild symptoms are nonetheless signs of the virus and a mode of transmission.
Even if the variant only causes mild symptoms, the public should not be complacent, Vergeire warned in a message to the media.
“The World Health Organization pronounced that the Omicron variant is still a virus and not a natural vaccine,” she said. “The DOH states that the more transmission, the more the virus can mutate and replicate. While we recognize natural immunity, the DOH emphasizes the importance of vaccine-induced immunity,” it added.
Because not everyone develops natural antibodies to the virus, immunizations give the best protection and prevent hospitalization, according to Vergeire.
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“With acquiring the vaccine, we have lower chances of getting severe to critical symptoms. Likewise, in vaccines, it does not only provide protection against the virus but also protection to people around you, especially your loved ones,” she added.
Apart from being vaccinated, the Department of Health constantly reminds the public to adhere to minimal public health standards in order to avoid increasing the risk of viral transmission and mutation, which might lead to more deadly effects.
“By properly following these protocols, we help in mitigating the pandemic. We would like to avoid another Delta picture where our hospitals were fully congested,” Vergeire said.
