By Jennifer P. Rendon
All things considered, Rep. Janette Garin of the 1st district of Iloilo province is in favor of implementing face-to-face classes.
But Garin, a former health secretary, said it would only be advisable if a good number of senior citizens, and even health workers were already vaccinated against Covid-19.
Garin cited several factors why she approved the gradual holding of face-to-face classes.
“The children couldn’t easily grasp knowledge through hybrid or remote learning,” Garin said during the “Doc Nanay Vaccine Literacy Program” of the Southern Iloilo Health Zone at the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center in Tigbauan, Iloilo.
She acknowledged the big impact that online classes caused on the mental health of kids given their limited social life.
Garin said there have been a lot of studies indicating the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of the children.
“Their interest in going to school has declined. Their span is very limited. If a child goes to school, it’s not just about learning. If a child goes to school, we teach them about social interaction,” she said.
Through school exposure, children could adjust to different personalities and it will also be beneficial to their physical health improvements, she said.
“There are so many facets of learning that could be produced if there is interaction,” Garin said.
For the lady solon, remote education might be good for those who are taking short courses or those pursuing graduate studies.
“But for the basic schooling and knowledge, it’s still important to have a face-to-face interaction,” she said.
After all, “we don’t want a future generation that is aloof on personal interaction with other people.”
Garin stressed that face-to-face classes is recommended, as long as the vaccine is there to protect the niche of the population where there is high mortality.
If vaccine would be available now, Garin suggested re-opening of face-to-face classes by early next year since confidence would be high already by end of 2021.
Also, “in children, if they contract the virus, they’re usually asymptomatic. They have the mild form of Covid-19,” she said adding that if those senior citizens have been inoculated, the presence of severe form of the virus could change.
As such, vaccinating a good number of senior citizens, medical frontliners, those who are deemed high risks, could result to herd immunity.
However, such an impact would only be possible if 90 – 95% of the “suggested population of the high risk” groups have been vaccinated.
“Each virus has a target. For Covid-19, the targets are seniors, diabetics, asthmatic, those with heart ailments and those who are prone to pneumonia,” she said.
For children, they usually have pneumonia vaccine given in three doses that could protect them while in school.
“If in case they would contract the virus, they are asymptotic usually. What’s important is that they won’t spread the virus to someone who would die because of Covid-19,” she said.
If seniors are vaccinated, Garin said they are protected because sooner or later the community has to go back to normalcy.
But the bad news is, only a limited number of the population wants to get vaccinated out of fear.
Studies showed that less than 30% want to get the vaccine.
If there are 7.7 million seniors, this leaves us with a population of 5 million who wouldn’t want to get the vaccine.
With the 10% mortality rate among seniors, the number is still high, Garin noted.
In the first district of Iloilo, survey showed that up to 20% want to get the vaccine.
“That’s why, we are doing the literacy campaign to answer their questions and doubts about the vaccine,” she said.
Recently, it was reported that President Rodrigo Duterte might approve limited face-to-face classes.
It could initially be held in only a few hours in select areas of the country.
