By Pearl Gumapos
More and more Filipinos have reacted positively to the COVID-19 vaccines as the government continues to ramp up the national vaccination program.
Based on an online survey by data analysis and public relations company BluePrint.PH using two petabytes of data from Facebook in June 2021, 54% of Filipinos have hit the “like” button on 12,000 posts in January, increasing to 76% in June.
“Like” reactions to vaccines increased within six months, including 61% in February, 68% in March, 76% in April, and 78% in May.
“Love” reactions rose from 9% last January to 15% by June, indicating a growing positive sentiment among Filipinos toward COVID-19 jabs, BluePrint.PH said
“Haha” or laughter reactions decreased from 24% in January to just 1% by June, with over 10 million Filipinos vaccinated.
“Angry” (negative) reactions were low at 4% from January to February, decreased to 2% in March to April, and to 1% in the succeeding months.
BluePrint.PH added that with 6,000 posts on the vaccine issue since January 1, Filipinos made 1.9 million comments and shares and had 12 million reactions.
Of the 12 million reactions, more than half of the reactions for posts on COVID-19 vaccines were “likes,” followed by 14% “haha”, and 12% “love.”
Only 3% were “angry” and another 3% reacted with “sad”.
The data analysis also showed that the Department of Health was the top source of information for Filipinos when they post on Facebook about COVID-19 vaccines.
BluePrint.PH said 58% of the estimated 68,000 posts by Filipinos on Facebook from January to June 2021 were about the China-made Sinovac vaccine.
However, data showed American brands Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech received more “love” reactions from Filipinos.
The words most associated by Filipinos with COVID-19 vaccines are AstraZeneca, Sinovac, Pfizer, Moderna, procurement, COVAX, and Carlito Galvez, the analysis showed.
“BluePrint.PH considers the Facebook posts and reactions by Filipinos as [a] reflection of their sentiments on issues and developments, as there are an estimated 80 million Filipino Facebook account owners out of a total population of 110 million,” BluePrint.PH said.
Despite the limited vaccine supply, National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 deputy chief implementer Sec. Vince Dizon said vaccine confidence among Filipinos has increased.
“Ang totoo po ngayon, hirap pa rin tayo sa supply. Pero ang kinagandahan nito ay marami na po sa ating mga kababayan ang gusto nang makatanggap ng kanilang bakuna,” Dizon said in an interview with Philippine News Agency on Friday (July 2).
Meanwhile, vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. assured that the government is doing its best to increase its vaccine stockpile. – jlo
