The Department of Health (DOH) said “fake news” about COVID-19 vaccines is one of the reasons for the low number of inoculated senior citizens.
National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) member Dr. Nina Castillo-Carandang said on Wednesday (July 7) that senior citizens lack genuine information regarding the COVID-19 vaccines but easily access false information.
“Mas kumakalat ang chismis kaysa sa tama at siyentipikong tugon at impormasyon,” she said.
Based on a DOH survey, 10% of senior citizens say they are unsure about getting vaccinated against COVID-19, almost 20% are afraid of the vaccines’ side effects, while 16% are hesitating to receive the inoculation due to the negative information about vaccines.
Meanwhile, according to the department’s data, over eight million senior citizens should have been vaccinated. However, only 8.9% or more than 700,000 senior citizens have been fully vaccinated and 29.32% or 2.42 million have received their first dose.
(PTV News)/NGS- jlo
