DepEd: No COVID-19 reports among students, teachers

MANILA, Philippines — There are no reported COVID-19 cases, so far, involving students and teachers since the opening of classes in basic education on Aug. 22, the Department of Education (DepEd) said yesterday.

“After verifying with the field offices, we have not reported any student who contracted COVID since the start of classes, as well as teaching and non-teaching staff,” DepEd spokesman Michael Poa said in a mix of English and Filipino.

“But we won’t stop there. We will continue monitoring every day, every week to see the situation in our schools with regard to transmission,” he added.

Poa said the guidelines on health protocols in schools are already undergoing final review and will be released soon.

Earlier, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte said the DepEd has adopted measures to prevent outbreaks during face-to-face (F2F) classes.

She had mandated that classroom doors and windows be kept open to ensure ventilation. Students, teaching and non-teaching personnel are also prohibited from eating together while facing one another.

“If there is a lack of space in the classroom or school premises to allow distancing during meals, eating shall be done in a manner where all individuals face in one direction and do not talk while their masks are off,” read Duterte’s order.

Meanwhile, Poa said they are updating their learner information system to determine the latest number of students who have already been vaccinated.

The last data released by the DepEd showed that only around 19 percent of students are fully vaccinated.

But he said they expect the number to increase once student records have been updated. The agency will also work with the Department of Health (DOH) to verify and reconcile the data on vaccination status of students, Poa added.

The DepEd is currently conducting counseling sessions in schools to encourage students, teachers and other personnel to get vaccinated.

It plans to set up mobile vaccination centers in schools, in partnership with the DOH, once they have a list of stakeholders who agreed to receive the COVID-19 vaccines.

DOH: 2,573 deaths  not ‘causally  related’ to jabs

In other developments, DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire clarified that the reported deaths of 2,573 individuals who received the COVID-19 jabs were not necessarily caused by the vaccines.

“It was noted in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website that there were already 2,573 deaths. However, it also pointed out that not all these deaths are causally related to our use of vaccines,” Vergeire told a press briefing.

“In the FDA website, when the report was first released, it read, ‘There is a specific number of deaths after being vaccinated’ but there is an additional phrase that said ‘depending, and that it should be subjected to further study if it was causally related to the vaccine,’” she stressed.

Vergeire explained that this only means that not all death incidents can be attributed to the COVID-19 vaccines. “Not all of these are causally related to our vaccination program,” she said.

The country’s top health official said data showed that only a very small percentage of the population reported severe adverse reactions after being administered with the COVID-19 vaccine.

“As of Aug. 6, total doses administered for COVID-19 were more than 159 million. And that only .07 percent reported adverse reactions while .006 percent reported severe adverse reactions. Every fatal outcome reported in our website does not necessarily mean that the vaccines caused the deaths of these individuals,” she said.

Vergeire advised the public to be critical and discerning when looking at the data.

The FDA report stated that most of the fatal events reported involved persons with multiple existing comorbidities, such as cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and infections like pneumonia.

“Underlying conditions or pre-existing medical conditions causing fatal events are usually coincidental on the use of the vaccine,” read the report.

However, the Public Attorney’s Office has been critical of the efforts of the government, particularly the DOH, on addressing the COVID-19 pandemic through vaccination.

The PAO claimed in a separate press conference that nearly 3,000 people have died after being given COVID-19 jabs.

The PAO said that government officials pushing for the administration of COVID-19 vaccines may be held liable in cases of serious adverse events, such as hospitalization, physical disability, or death.

In earlier reports, the PAO had been quoted as saying that the DOH has been deceiving the public as it continues to hide facts especially on the serious adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccines, particularly for children aged five to 11.

Meanwhile, the DOH reported that the country’s second monkeypox case has finally recovered.

Vergeire said the 34-year-old individual was seen by a physician and declared as recovered last Aug. 31, after being confirmed positive of the disease on Aug. 18.

The patient’s 18 close contacts have remained asymptomatic for the rest of the quarantine period, she added.

The DOH said the third case of monkeypox is still under home isolation, while the fourth patient is under facility-based isolation. – Rhodina Villanueva