Majority of Covid-19 cases are unvaccinated

Nearly 42 percent of Baguio City’s COVID-19 cases from March 2020 to last month are unvaccinated.

This was revealed by City Epidemiologist Dr. Donnabel Panes during a press conference Wednesday, 5 January 2022.

Data from the City Health Services shows that Baguio had a total of 16,283 positive cases since the start of vaccination in March last year.

Of the total COVID-19 cases, 41.39 percent or majority of the patients were unvaccinated including pediatrics who were not yet eligible for vaccination while 32.99 percent were fully vaccinated; 12.79 percent were partially vaccinated and less than one percent had availed of the booster shot.

Panes said more than 85 percent of the individuals who contracted COVID-19 after full vaccination were asymptomatic and only experienced mild symptoms that they need not be hospitalized.

For the whole month of December 2021, five of the total eight deaths related to COVID-19 were unvaccinated.

“We have seen a 30 percent decrease in hospitalization among COVID-19 patients since most of our cases now have mild symptoms and we can attribute this to our high vaccination rate as well as compliance to health protocols particularly wearing of masks,” Panes said.

With the threat of the Omicron variant, Panes said the CHSO is on heightened alert in monitoring COVID-19 patient admissions in the hospitals.

“Even if Omicron is more infectious, at least its symptoms are mild and we can avoid overwhelming our hospitals since we have the vaccine as our protection against severe infection and hospitalization,” Panes said. – Jessa Samidan