Bare Truth by Rose de la Cruz
Bare Truth

Joy about vaccines could lead to carelessness

Mar 6, 2021, 6:38 AM
Rose De La Cruz

Rose De La Cruz

Writer/Columnist

Although the vaccines have already arrived, the public is still required to practice the basic health protocols and not completely rely on them as a means to drive out the disease.

But a word of caution to them since their full trust on the vaccines could lead to carelessness and utter disregard of the fact that coronavirus is still strong and pervasive and had been mutating so fast.

THE arrival of COVID-19 vaccines this week--- first the Sinovac from China and then AstraZeneca from the COVAX facility—has caused the officialdom and those desiring to take the shots to be somewhat overly optimistic.

But a word of caution to them since their full trust on the vaccines could lead to carelessness and utter disregard of the fact that coronavirus is still strong and pervasive and had been mutating so fast.

This is the danger when hype is made on a supposed cure for COVID-19 and pinning everyone’s hopes on it—when in truth the vaccine can only minimize its impact on a sufferer and its reduce its power to infect a larger number of people.

Still, the vaccines now in the country have not been proved 100 percent to stop the spread of this deadly virus.

But the jubilation over the vaccines’ arrival is just one side of the prevailing atmosphere in the country.

Authorities have yet to strategize how to win the confidence of people towards the vaccine, considering the scare it caused on a previous massive vaccination program for dengue.

Even among health workers, they would rather wait for vaccines that have been tried and tested to combat the virus rather than those hastily- produced with no medical validity by scientists from different parts of the world.

Also, even if the vaccines are given free to initially a priority set of people, Filipinos would rather see the effect of the vaccines on their officials to ensure that negative effects would be felt by them first.

When the Food and Drug Administration issued its first emergency use authorization for the vaccine of Pfizer-BioNTech in January, people were hopeful that it would be arriving soon.

But what happened was that the donations of Sinovac from China—tracing to the close friendship of the President with that country’s lifetime leader—brought some disappointment and suspicion that they are being turned into guinea pigs.

To dispel such fears, the government made the director of the Philippine General Hospital (the country’s leading medical institution) Dr. Gerardo Legaspi and some Cabinet members to be the first recipients via a well-publicized event.

But even before the Chinese vaccines arrived, the government itself announced (which to me was a big mistake) the restoration of travel rights of the people with the removal of requirements like health certificate and travel authority.

Lifting travel restrictions would be a big factor in reviving the economy, the government and business leaders stated.

But the medical community is wary that lifting travel restrictions would lead to a resurgence of the virus throughout the country, especially in areas which before were not hit by the virus.

Between February 19 and March 4, total cases reported in the Philippines reached 29,504.

To address the fears of the medical community, health workers were placed in the topmost priority list of recipients for vaccines that are now in the country.

At least this would protect them, should cases resurge and overwhelm the healthcare system. Some legislators are clamoring that even health workers of colleges and universities be placed in the priority list if pilot testing of face-to-face classes would be adopted soon.

Records would show that the Philippines ordered COVID-19 vaccines from a wide range of sources—but because of the scare among world vaccine makers that the fate of Dengvaxia would befall them, they have put the Philippines in their least priority recipients’ list.

It is not clear if the vaccines that have arrived will be enough to provide the prescribed first and second doses for those who have already received them.

It is important that the scheduling of these shots should be followed to forestall and any negative impact on the population and their efficacy against the virus.

Countries and companies where the Philippines ordered COVID-19 vaccines from are: US and Germany for Pfizer-BioNTech at 15 million doses which are expected to be deployed in April 2021; UK’s Oxford-AstraZeneca for 17 million doses which partially arrived; Sinovac for 25 million doses which partially arrived through a donation of 600,000 doses; Gamaleya from Russia for 10 to 15 million which is pending deployment by April; Bharat Biotech of India and Sinopharm of China which are pending approval; Moderna of US for 20 million doses, expected by May or June; US/India Novavax for 30 million doses expected by May and US/Netherlands Janssen for 6 million doses, which is pending approval yet.

Local governments have allocated portions of their budgets to procure their own supply. Private companies also placed their own orders in collaboration with the national government which led some members of Congress to urge the national government to allow local governments to procure vaccines on their own.

But the national government argued that it is the only one that could procure vaccines through the World Health Organization’s COVAX facility and that third party private firms and local governments had to sign tripartite deals with the national government and member vaccine manufacturers.

Amid the realities of delayed vaccine arrivals and delayed immunization of targeted population, it is best for everyone not to let their guards down-- maintain social distancing, handwashing or disinfection with alcohol and wearing of face masks and shields at all times.

Prevention, through protection, is after all better than cure.


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