As the country faces challenges in building vaccine confidence amid a pandemic, an epidemiology expert has explained that being inoculated with approved vaccine products means saving other people.
Dr. Charles Yu, Vice Chancellor of De La Salle Medical and Health Sciences Institute and former President of Philippine College of Chest Physicians, said another way of getting back to the normal situation is by supporting mass vaccination.
While the personal right to not get vaccinated is respected, Yu reminded of the responsibility that goes with it, that is, to not infect others.
“That personal right to not get a vaccine is trumped by the greater good, dahil mas marami dapat ang mabakunahan para maproteksyunan natin ang mas nakararami (because more should be vaccinated to protect the majority),” Yu added.
“Kahit hesitant ka, isipin mo na lang hindi lang ito para sa iyo. Ito ay para sa mga minamahal mo. Ito ay para bumalik tayo sa normal (If you are hesitant, just think that it is not only for you but for your loved ones. This is for us to return to normal),” Yu urged.
Members of the vaccine expert panel of the government and the chief of the Food and Drug Administration have been reassuring the public that available vaccines and those that are soon to be released undergo strict criteria for evaluation.
Yu expounded that the concept of herd immunity being pushed by authorities means actually vaccinating 60 to 70 percent of the population to protect the unvaccinated 30 to 40 percent.
He also pointed out that it is not the number on overall efficacy of vaccines that is important. Rather, it is its ability to prevent death of a patient, decrease hospitalization, and stopping a severe disease.
According to vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, around a million doses of COVID-19 vaccines are set to arrive in the country in February from Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, and Sinovac.
The FDA has already granted emergency use authorization to the vaccines of Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca. Among the beneficiaries of the initial batch of doses are medical frontline workers. – PTV News Online
