85% of COVID-related deaths in private hospitals unvaccinated

A health worker prepares a dose of Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination for residents in Mandaluyong on July 15, 2021. | File photo from AFP

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Most of the COVID-related mortalities recorded in Cebu’s private hospitals were unvaccinated individuals, an official from the regional health office said.

Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, chief pathologist of the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7), reported that around 85 percent of the deaths, or 250 out of the 296 deaths registered between August 1 to August 21, were unvaccinated.

Forty-six of the 296 mortalities managed to get themselves inoculated against COVID-19 of which 31 were fully vaccinated while the remaining 15 were “partially vaccinated.”

In the meantime, Loreche, who is also the spokesperson of the Visayas Vaccination Operations Center (VVOC), said that most of these deaths could be caused by other factors aside from COVID-19.

“Pag sinabi nating COVID death, dahil lang po talaga kay COVID ang kanyang kamatayan. Pag sinabi nating COVID-related death, ibig pong sabihin meron siyang mga co-morbidities,” said Loreche in a recent virtual briefer.

The latest COVID-19 bulletin from DOH-7 showed that a total of 870-COVID related deaths in Central Visayas were recorded from August 1 to August 23.

Of this number, 833 came from the island-province of Cebu, including those logged in the cities of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, and Mandaue.

Local health officials here pointed to the more transmissible Delta variant as the reason behind Cebu’s “worst COVID surge yet.”

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/ dcb