Each vaccine brand has different efficacy rates in preventing hospitalization and death. Online articles described statistics about each medicine’s efficacy rates while others mentioned why it’s difficult to compare vaccines. The varying rule of approval of each country’s food and drug agency or their respective health departments/ministries leads to different vaccine requirements for each Overseas Filipino Workers’ (OFWs) destination.  OFWs will have to deal with vaccine requirements in their work locations.

Vaccine efficacies

A keyword phrase “Which COVID vaccine is the best” made a spike in search engine searches according to theconversation.com. The results will show you the articles, bar graphs, line graphs, and tables ranking each covid brand from Pfizer and Moderna to Sinovac. People are eager to know if their shots are effective.

Gavi.org, a global public and private health organization, defined efficacy and effectiveness. Efficacy refers to the degree to which a vaccine can prevent the disease while effectiveness pertains to how well it performs against new variants. The alliance published this table:

Source: https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/how-effective-are-covid-19-vaccines-real-world

The Philippine Department of Health (DOH) also outlined the efficacy rate per brand on their website. Further, Statista, a data analytics site, published this report: Statista vaccine effectiveness chart. WebMD, on the other hand, created a table of comparison including Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna.

Nikkei Asia reported on December 25, 2020, that Sinovac has shown 91.25% efficacy in Turkey. But on March 3, 2021, the country revised down its efficacy to 83.5% based on the final results of Phase III trials.

Vaccine preferences among countries

Outbound OFWs or those going back or travelling for work will have to deal with the vaccine preferences of some countries. They have to get a vaccine passport to prove that they have been tested negative and protected against reinfection.  Rappler (July 9, 2021) listed a non-exhaustive list of vaccines required by countries with most OFWs.

The Visaguide.world listed some of the number of countries that approved a specific vaccine and the number of approved vaccines for each country. Check out this table. You can also check their Vaccine Checker to see if your vaccine is accepted in a specific country.

The role of vaccines in easing travel for OFWs

Vaccines proved to be effective in reducing the chances of severe symptoms that could land a person in hospital and transmit virus-laden microdroplets to another person. Although, a resurgence of variants may cause uncertainties on vaccine efficacy. Government health agencies and vaccine manufacturers are studying if booster shots can add a layer of protection or dampen the effects of mutations. A US National Institutes for Health published a report that Moderna and Pfizer constitute the best effective Covid boosters.

In the Philippines, the government conducted massive vaccinations according to priority groups (front liners, health workers, seniors, people with comorbidities) up to the rest of the population. The country received massive vaccine deliveries in the early 2021. The health department and local government units (LGUs) scheduled people under priority groups (A1 to A5) through online registration.

The health authorities moved healthcare OFWs up from the less vaccine priority group (from A4 to A1), and the rest of OFWs from B5 to A4 category. Category Vaccination efforts will use the remaining months of 2021 to administer doses to the general or remaining population.

Such vaccination efforts resulted in the easing of restrictions in the country and enabling OFWs to comply with the vaccine requirements of their destination countries. Returning workers require vaccine passports to gain smooth entry into their work destinations. Also, vaccinated returning OFWs (vacationing or retiring) will be at advantage status once they go through checkpoints or quarantine restrictions.

Further Helpful References:

Where to get a vaccine passport?

• FAQ about International Certificate of Vaccination
• Vaccination Passport Philippines: Here’s What To Know

Vaccine brand checker

• Vaccine Checker for Travelling Abroad

Vaccine tracker

• Covid 19 Vaccine Tracker
• Vaccine rates, approvals and trials per country

Vaccine efficacy

• Mayo Clinic
• Statista

Vaccine brands accepted list

• EU countries accepting Sinovac
• Vaccination certificates per country
• Countries that accept Moderna