The Department of Health‘s (DOH) survey showed that fear of possible side effects caused by the vaccine is the top reason for Filipino vaccine hesitancy.
In a forum on Monday (May 31), DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the survey revealed the top three reasons for the vaccine hesitancy which are the possible side effects, negative information circulating online, and doubts on the vaccine’s efficacy.
“Lumabas sa survey na ‘yan ang top three reasons why hesitant sila magpabakuna, una, ‘yung possible na maging epekto sa kanilang katawan o ‘yung adverse events. Pangalawa, because of this negative information that they hear circulating especially from social media platforms, and the third is hindi nila iniisip na epektibo itong mga bakunang ito.”
She said that the department conducted the said survey to know the reason behind the vaccine hesitancy of some Filipinos and respond to it immediately. The survey was answered by more than 43,000 respondents from all the priority groups.
The DOH reminded the public that adverse events following immunization are normal.
Based on the department’s data, around 1.10% of the vaccinated individuals experience non-serious side effects while only 0.014% experience serious side effects. She added that there is still no hard evidence that deaths following vaccination are connected to the COVID-19 vaccine.
Report from Mark Fetalco/NGS-rir
