MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines now joins five other countries that removed the requirement for higher education institution (HEI) students and personnel to show proof of vaccination.

The Department of Health (DOH) said the country now implements such a policy on vaccination similar to what is adopted by Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Singapore.

The health department said it is now giving more weight on the value of in-person and face-to-face higher education and fully supports the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) after it updated its guidelines for full face-to-face classes in HEIs.

At a meeting on Monday, the DOH, CHED and health experts convened to discuss the scientific bases for this update in policy.

“Policymakers noted the high COVID-19 vaccination coverage in Philippine higher education, with 77 percent of students and 90 percent of HEI personnel already fully vaccinated against the virus,” the DOH said.

“Our COVID-19 response is dynamic and always follows the latest scientific recommendations available. The benefits of in-person and face-to-face schooling now outweigh the risk of COVID-19 infections. The DOH will keep working with CHED and our colleges and universities to ensure safe higher education,” DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said.

“Even as proof of vaccination is no longer needed, vaccination and boosters for all eligible individuals is still strongly recommended. Let us keep the wall of immunity strong,” Vergeire stressed.

Data from the DOH showed that as of Aug. 28, there are 72,476,610 fully vaccinated individuals while 17,843,348 eligible persons were administered with booster shots.

NCR cases drop

The average number of new COVID-19 cases in the National Capital Region (NCR) has dropped to less than 1,000 per day, according to the OCTA Research group.

Citing data from the DOH, OCTA fellow Guido David said the region reported an average of 862 new cases from Aug. 23 to 29, down 19 percent from the average 1,062 daily new cases from Aug. 16 to 22.

The average daily attack rate also dropped from 5.98 daily new infections per 100,000 people while the reproduction number went down from 0.99 on Aug. 19 to 0.95 on Aug. 26.

“A reproduction number less than 1.0 indicates decreasing infections,” said David.

Positivity rate also dropped from 14.6 percent to 12.7 percent, still above the five percent recommended by the World Health Organization.

Health care and intensive care unit utilization also remained low in NCR at 33.3 percent and 25.8 percent, respectively, said OCTA.

The DOH on Monday recorded 2,573 new COVID-19 cases, lower than the 2,752 daily average cases logged from Aug. 22 to 28.

Latest available data showed active cases dropped to 27,497 while the nationwide tally reached 3,877,110. Recoveries totaled 3,787,893 while deaths reached 61,720

In the past two weeks, Metro Manila still had the highest number of infections with 12,444 cases, followed by Calabarzon (6,323), Central Luzon (4,075), Western Visayas (2,136) and Cagayan Valley (1,716).

Meanwhile, the total number of individuals tested for COVID-19 were 30,318,839, including 13,258 who underwent testing last Sunday.

2nd-generation shots

With the second-generation vaccine against COVID-19 expected to be out by October, Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin yesterday asked the DOH to place a reservation for the jabs now.

According to Garin, the DOH need not pay a deposit in making the reservation or placing an order for the bivalent booster shots, which target the original SARS-CoV-2 strain and an Omicron variant.