Another death /NEA late in endorsing Beneco manager/ Covid vaccine myths, facts
>> Thursday, May 6, 2021
BEHIND THE SCENES
Alfred P. Dizon
BAGUIO CITY – First
our condolences to the family of Isabelo “Billy” Pomar
Jr., my uncle of Bayan Park, Aurora Hill here. Billy succumbed to sickness. His
siblings were a family of musicians. His father, the late Isabelo Pomar was
then a dentist at the Dimalanta Building along Magsaysay road. I spent a lot of
time at their house during
my younger days jamming with the late Rudy, Billy’s
younger brother and Benjie Fontanilla, husband of Pacita their sister. Anyway,
Godspeed Billy to the Heavens.
***
What is it with the national Electrification Agency? It has been more than a year since they should have endorsed a general manager to the Benguet Electric Cooperative but, until now, its top officials are dragging themselves in the case.
Observers here are now asking if they are trying to justify the entry of a Malacanang official to sit as Beneco manager. They are saying if NEA officials are really intent in doing their mandate to look after welfare of electric cooperatives and the power industry, then they should have endorsed a general manager to head the Beneco considering the pandemic.
It boggles the mind, they are saying, why NEA bigshots are still studying kuno credentials of two applicants to the position.
One applicant is Anna Marie Rafael Bana-ag, lawyer and Assistant Secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office.
The other is engineer Melchor S. Licoben, incumbent officer in charge (OIC) general manager of Beneco.
Beneco officials, managers and employees have disputed credentials of Bana-ag to sit as Beneco general manager.
They urged the NEA board of administrators in a letter to endorse instead engineer Licoben citing his credentials and experience with Beneco. Even the Beneco board of directors earlier approved Licoben’s designation as general manager of the power company.
The letter to the NEA was signed by lawyer Esteban A. Somngi, board of directors president and department managers lawyer Delmar O. Carino, Brenda Carling, Artemio M. Bacoco, Ricardo Pallogan, Ramel Rifani including Jason Wayet, Beneco Supervisors Association (BSA) president and Jefferd C. Monang, BELU (Beneco Employees Labor Union) president.
(Details are in the banner story in page 1 of the Northern Philippine Times.
Basing from the letter, Licoben had accomplished all requirements set by the NEA including the experience, being with Beneco for more than 20 years to become general manager.
Why did the NEA still not endorse Licoben considering top local government officials of Baguio and Benguet have endorsed him to assume the post as Beneco general manager?
The NEA had set criteria and rules on qualifications of general managers of electric companies nationwide. If the NEA would change its rules and requirements of general managers at this time, for reasons they are not saying but the observing public knows, it could invite derision and condemnation from electric cooperatives, government officials and power consumers.
***
(We would like to share this article, “Keep your guard against vaccine pseudoscience” by Dr. Edsel Salvana):
Social media has been a double-edged sword during this pandemic. On one hand, it helps with getting up-to-the-minute information, engaging the community in finding solutions to urgent problems, and bringing people together from all over the world in fruitful discourse. On the other, it enables the spread of disinformation, the use of potentially dangerous unproven treatments, and the dissemination of anti-vaxxer propaganda.
One such harmful post going around asserts that getting vaccinated lowers your immunity to COVID-19 temporarily. This is categorically untrue. However, the post mixes in some real concerns about vaccine breakthrough to draw people in and push its baseless assumptions. This mix of real science and pseudoscience has fooled many smart and educated people. One red flag for any post like this is that it is not attributed to anyone. In this article, we dissect the mostly false facts from the notorious viral post, while affirming which practices can help protect people.
Myth 1: The vaccine starts to form antibodies immediately after entering the body.
This is FALSE. It takes the body about three weeks to form antibodies. When a COVID-19 vaccine is injected, the antigens (substances that elicit an immune response against the virus) are produced in different ways. For mRNA vaccines, the vaccine uses the body’s machinery to produce many copies of the spike protein. This is then recognized by the body as foreign. For inactivated vaccines, the dead pieces of the virus are picked up by scavenger cells called macrophages, which then alert the immune system to produce antibodies and other immune cells. Other vaccines work in similar ways, but the bottom line is that it takes time for the body to recognize antigens, respond, and produce antibodies. From the time of the first dose, it takes approximately three weeks to start producing enough antibodies to begin to have clinically significant protection.
Myth 2: When antibodies are forming in our body, our immunity decreases a lot.
This is FALSE. Every day, we are exposed to different antigens and we are constantly producing antibodies against all sorts of pathogens. Our bodies constantly multitask, and the production of antibodies is a regular task of our immune system. There is no vaccine that decreases someone’s immunity. In fact, after three weeks from the first dose, we already start to see clinically significant protection from disease.
Myth 3: When we take the second dose of the vaccine after the 21/28 days, our immunity decreases even more.
Completely UNTRUE. Protection from COVID-19 from the first vaccine dose continues and increases with the second dose. Full protection as seen in the clinical trials is attained by the second week after the second dose. Not all vaccines use the 21-day or 28-day time frame, so the post is clearly not considering the different and dynamic scheduling regimens of the different brands.
Myth 4: 14 days after the second dose, when the antibodies are completely formed in our body, our immunity starts to grow rapidly.
This is NOT ACCURATE. It isn’t as if the body, in the second week following the second dose, has a clock that rings and says, “Aha, I’m protected.” It is a spectrum of protection that begins three weeks from the first dose and continues rising past the second dose. The 14-day descriptor is based on clinical trial definitions when they started counting cases for comparison among the vaccinated versus the unvaccinated. In general, we assume complete protection in the second week after the second dose, but this does not mean the vaccine can’t give full protection earlier.
The J&J vaccine is a one dose vaccine and so if the post was accurate that you only get protection two weeks from a second dose, no one would have gotten protection from it. J&J is approved in the US and now has an emergency use listing (EUL) from the World Health Organization (WHO). All the COVID-19 vaccines prevent disease and none of them increase risk of COVID-19. None of the vaccines can give you COVID-19.
Myth 5: During this one and a half month, due to low immunity, the chances of the corona virus entering our body are very high. It is due to an exposure to the virus at this vulnerable time that a person gets infected which makes it very risky to get out of the house during this month and a half.
Absolutely FALSE. Protection from severe COVID-19 already begins after about three weeks from the first dose. Full protection happens two weeks after the second dose but even with one dose, you already have some protection. There is no physiologic basis for increased risk for COVID-19 with any kind of vaccination. Precautions do need to be always taken, however, because there are occasional breakthrough infections, especially before the second dose is given. But the risk of getting COVID-19 is not increased during any time after the vaccination, and the risk progressively goes lower three weeks after the first shot.
FACT (with context): Even after taking two doses of the vaccine, you can become a victim of COVID.
These are called breakthrough infections. These don’t happen often and are usually asymptomatic or mild. Most breakthrough infections occur before the second dose due to partial protection, but even after both doses are given, some people can get COVID-19. The risk of death from a breakthrough infection in a vaccinated person is miniscule compared to natural infection in an unvaccinated patient.
Myth 6: After one and a half months, the immunity in the body rises by 100 to 200 times, after which you are safe.
It isn’t clear what the author means by 100 to 200 times. Perhaps antibody titers? But we still do not know what antibody titers correlate with protection. Aside from antibodies, another arm of the immune system, called cell-mediated immunity, is intimately involved in killing viruses that are inside cells. In general, protection is complete after two weeks from the second dose. For the single dose J&J vaccine this is four weeks from the first dose.
We do need to continue taking precautions even after being fully vaccinated, because our vaccines are not 100% transmission-blocking. Breakthrough infections (usually mild or asymptomatic) can still be passed on to unvaccinated people, but your own risk of dying from COVID-19 is quite small. Once everyone is vaccinated, we can think about getting rid of the masks. Until then, keep your guard up against COVID-19, and against harmful pseudoscience posts.
***
What is it with the national Electrification Agency? It has been more than a year since they should have endorsed a general manager to the Benguet Electric Cooperative but, until now, its top officials are dragging themselves in the case.
Observers here are now asking if they are trying to justify the entry of a Malacanang official to sit as Beneco manager. They are saying if NEA officials are really intent in doing their mandate to look after welfare of electric cooperatives and the power industry, then they should have endorsed a general manager to head the Beneco considering the pandemic.
It boggles the mind, they are saying, why NEA bigshots are still studying kuno credentials of two applicants to the position.
One applicant is Anna Marie Rafael Bana-ag, lawyer and Assistant Secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office.
The other is engineer Melchor S. Licoben, incumbent officer in charge (OIC) general manager of Beneco.
Beneco officials, managers and employees have disputed credentials of Bana-ag to sit as Beneco general manager.
They urged the NEA board of administrators in a letter to endorse instead engineer Licoben citing his credentials and experience with Beneco. Even the Beneco board of directors earlier approved Licoben’s designation as general manager of the power company.
The letter to the NEA was signed by lawyer Esteban A. Somngi, board of directors president and department managers lawyer Delmar O. Carino, Brenda Carling, Artemio M. Bacoco, Ricardo Pallogan, Ramel Rifani including Jason Wayet, Beneco Supervisors Association (BSA) president and Jefferd C. Monang, BELU (Beneco Employees Labor Union) president.
(Details are in the banner story in page 1 of the Northern Philippine Times.
Basing from the letter, Licoben had accomplished all requirements set by the NEA including the experience, being with Beneco for more than 20 years to become general manager.
Why did the NEA still not endorse Licoben considering top local government officials of Baguio and Benguet have endorsed him to assume the post as Beneco general manager?
The NEA had set criteria and rules on qualifications of general managers of electric companies nationwide. If the NEA would change its rules and requirements of general managers at this time, for reasons they are not saying but the observing public knows, it could invite derision and condemnation from electric cooperatives, government officials and power consumers.
***
(We would like to share this article, “Keep your guard against vaccine pseudoscience” by Dr. Edsel Salvana):
Social media has been a double-edged sword during this pandemic. On one hand, it helps with getting up-to-the-minute information, engaging the community in finding solutions to urgent problems, and bringing people together from all over the world in fruitful discourse. On the other, it enables the spread of disinformation, the use of potentially dangerous unproven treatments, and the dissemination of anti-vaxxer propaganda.
One such harmful post going around asserts that getting vaccinated lowers your immunity to COVID-19 temporarily. This is categorically untrue. However, the post mixes in some real concerns about vaccine breakthrough to draw people in and push its baseless assumptions. This mix of real science and pseudoscience has fooled many smart and educated people. One red flag for any post like this is that it is not attributed to anyone. In this article, we dissect the mostly false facts from the notorious viral post, while affirming which practices can help protect people.
Myth 1: The vaccine starts to form antibodies immediately after entering the body.
This is FALSE. It takes the body about three weeks to form antibodies. When a COVID-19 vaccine is injected, the antigens (substances that elicit an immune response against the virus) are produced in different ways. For mRNA vaccines, the vaccine uses the body’s machinery to produce many copies of the spike protein. This is then recognized by the body as foreign. For inactivated vaccines, the dead pieces of the virus are picked up by scavenger cells called macrophages, which then alert the immune system to produce antibodies and other immune cells. Other vaccines work in similar ways, but the bottom line is that it takes time for the body to recognize antigens, respond, and produce antibodies. From the time of the first dose, it takes approximately three weeks to start producing enough antibodies to begin to have clinically significant protection.
Myth 2: When antibodies are forming in our body, our immunity decreases a lot.
This is FALSE. Every day, we are exposed to different antigens and we are constantly producing antibodies against all sorts of pathogens. Our bodies constantly multitask, and the production of antibodies is a regular task of our immune system. There is no vaccine that decreases someone’s immunity. In fact, after three weeks from the first dose, we already start to see clinically significant protection from disease.
Myth 3: When we take the second dose of the vaccine after the 21/28 days, our immunity decreases even more.
Completely UNTRUE. Protection from COVID-19 from the first vaccine dose continues and increases with the second dose. Full protection as seen in the clinical trials is attained by the second week after the second dose. Not all vaccines use the 21-day or 28-day time frame, so the post is clearly not considering the different and dynamic scheduling regimens of the different brands.
Myth 4: 14 days after the second dose, when the antibodies are completely formed in our body, our immunity starts to grow rapidly.
This is NOT ACCURATE. It isn’t as if the body, in the second week following the second dose, has a clock that rings and says, “Aha, I’m protected.” It is a spectrum of protection that begins three weeks from the first dose and continues rising past the second dose. The 14-day descriptor is based on clinical trial definitions when they started counting cases for comparison among the vaccinated versus the unvaccinated. In general, we assume complete protection in the second week after the second dose, but this does not mean the vaccine can’t give full protection earlier.
The J&J vaccine is a one dose vaccine and so if the post was accurate that you only get protection two weeks from a second dose, no one would have gotten protection from it. J&J is approved in the US and now has an emergency use listing (EUL) from the World Health Organization (WHO). All the COVID-19 vaccines prevent disease and none of them increase risk of COVID-19. None of the vaccines can give you COVID-19.
Myth 5: During this one and a half month, due to low immunity, the chances of the corona virus entering our body are very high. It is due to an exposure to the virus at this vulnerable time that a person gets infected which makes it very risky to get out of the house during this month and a half.
Absolutely FALSE. Protection from severe COVID-19 already begins after about three weeks from the first dose. Full protection happens two weeks after the second dose but even with one dose, you already have some protection. There is no physiologic basis for increased risk for COVID-19 with any kind of vaccination. Precautions do need to be always taken, however, because there are occasional breakthrough infections, especially before the second dose is given. But the risk of getting COVID-19 is not increased during any time after the vaccination, and the risk progressively goes lower three weeks after the first shot.
FACT (with context): Even after taking two doses of the vaccine, you can become a victim of COVID.
These are called breakthrough infections. These don’t happen often and are usually asymptomatic or mild. Most breakthrough infections occur before the second dose due to partial protection, but even after both doses are given, some people can get COVID-19. The risk of death from a breakthrough infection in a vaccinated person is miniscule compared to natural infection in an unvaccinated patient.
Myth 6: After one and a half months, the immunity in the body rises by 100 to 200 times, after which you are safe.
It isn’t clear what the author means by 100 to 200 times. Perhaps antibody titers? But we still do not know what antibody titers correlate with protection. Aside from antibodies, another arm of the immune system, called cell-mediated immunity, is intimately involved in killing viruses that are inside cells. In general, protection is complete after two weeks from the second dose. For the single dose J&J vaccine this is four weeks from the first dose.
We do need to continue taking precautions even after being fully vaccinated, because our vaccines are not 100% transmission-blocking. Breakthrough infections (usually mild or asymptomatic) can still be passed on to unvaccinated people, but your own risk of dying from COVID-19 is quite small. Once everyone is vaccinated, we can think about getting rid of the masks. Until then, keep your guard up against COVID-19, and against harmful pseudoscience posts.
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