Drop in vaccine hesitancy among Filipinos hailed

Presidential Adviser on Anti-COVID-19 response and testing czar Vivencio Dizon claimed that the significant decrease in vaccine hesitancy among Filipinos will contribute in efforts to achieve the desired herd immunity by the first quarter of this year.

Dizon, who was with Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat in the launching of the Resbakuna sa Botika at Watson’s in SM City Baguio, said that the relentless efforts of the government to vaccinate as many people as possible for them to be protected against the dreaded Corona Virus Disease (COVID) 2019 has paid off which will help in containing the rapid spread of the virus among the populace.

From the high 36 percent vaccine hesitancy among Filipinos when the government started vaccinating in March last year, the Palace official said that the same dropped to only 8 percent last December which is an indication that people are already convinced that they will be able to get added protection when inoculated aside from complying with the prescribed minimum public health standards.

He pointed out that the government continues to venture on other strategies that will make the available vaccines accessible to the people for them to be convinced to be inoculated to protect them from the severe complications of the virus once they will contract the same.

According to him, concerned government agencies and local governments are taking the extra mile to continue informing and educating the people on the importance of being vaccinated for them to be protected from the severe complications of the virus or from hospitalization or possible death.

Earlier, the government was able to achieve its first milestone after it was able to vaccinate some 54 million Filipinos or 50 percent of the population to realize population protection by the second week of January after it failed to reach the same during the end of 2021 because of a number of supervening factors.

By the end of the first quarter, the government aims to inoculate some 77 million Filipinos or approximately 70 percent of the population to achieve the projected herd immunity against the possible mutations of the virus.

Aside from the opening of vaccination sites in drug stores and pharmacies in the different parts of the country, the government intends to also open vaccination areas in public places to be able to entice people who frequent such places to be vaccinated right on the spot.

Dizon said that there are sufficient vaccines that are available for inoculation to the people that are interested to be vaccinated and for those who want to avail of booster shots to get added protection from the variants of the virus.

Moreover, the government is planning to replicate the conduct of the Bayanihan Bakunahan in the coming months to be able to have more people vaccinated similar to what happened when the said activity was conducted last A November and December where more than 17 million vaccines were inoculated to the people that availed of the existing vaccines. – Dexter A. See