Mayor alarmed over increase in death among unvaccinated, unboostered persons

Mayor Benjamin Magalong has expressed alarm over the increase in death among unvaccinated and unboostered individuals in the city due to COVID-19.

The City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit of the City Health Services Office revealed that COVID-19 death incidents tripled from October to November and the fatalities were either unvaccinated or unboostered.

Data from the Baguio City Health Services Department and the UP Baguio showed that nine out of ten COVID deaths in Baguio from December 2021 to present were also not vaccinated or did not receive supplementary shots.

Majority of the deaths belonged to the 50 years old and above age group.

Magalong said these data once again proved the importance of vaccines in preventing severe disease and deaths due to COVID-19.

The UP Baguio and the CHSO also bared data on the proportion of cases who died by age and vaccination status which showed that COVID-19 death is highest among those unvaccinated and unboostered.

“Vaccination really decreases risk of hospitalization and death so please update your vaccination.  Sapat dapat and vaccines especially for persons with comorbidities and senior citizens who have higher risk of hospitalization and thus need updated booster shots,” the CESU said.

Mayor Magalong said the city has been experiencing a spike in COVID-19 cases in the past two weeks and this may be driven by the presence of the omicron subvariant XBC, a recombinant of the delta variant and omicron BA.5 subvariant.

The CESU also confirmed the presence of subvariant BQ1 omicron subvariant which like XBC is known to be more transmissible and to cause higher risk of reinfection. – Aileen P. Refuerzo