The Philippine Foundation for Vaccination (PFV) disclosed that the vaccine confidence of Filipinos has dropped for the past years due to various issues regarding vaccines such as the Dengvaxia.
PFV Executive Director Dr. Lulu Bravo pointed out that when the vaccine coverage slumped to almost 50%, almost 600 have died due to measles and polio has again emerged after eradicating it in 1993.
According to Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD), it will be a challenge to convince the majority of Filipinos to receive the vaccination for Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) once it arrives.
Based on their data, 55% or 64 million adult population must be immunized when the said vaccine is available. It is equivalent to the estimated 35 million individuals to be vaccinated to reach the herd immunity in the country.
Moreover, experts encouraged the public not to be scared of the vaccine once it is available because it is an effective way to prevent COVID-19. Report from Kenneth Paciente