Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the government is hopeful that Philippines will be able to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19 next year or in 2023.
Herd immunity means most of the population is immune to an infectious disease, in this case the novel coronavirus.
“Kung sakaling dadating ang buong doses for this number of the population, hopefully, we can achieve that in one to two years,” Vergeire said in a briefing.
As Filipinos await for the vaccines to arrive, the health department will be focusing on bringing down the number of patients dying due to COVID-19, according to Vergeire.
“By doing that we can eventually lessen po itong [the] burden [of] sa atin nitong mortalities at saka mga [and] hospitalizations,” she said.
Vaccine czar Galvez earlier shared that Filipinos may experience “normalcy” again by 2023. He cautioned however, that this is only possible through cooperation among the national government, local government units, the public, and other stakeholders.
